The Ice Queen
by Raerin-chan
Summary: Tenten grows to resent the way her village ignores her all the time, and making herself unbeatable becomes her obsession. However, on a mission monitering two Akatsuki, the hunter soon becomes the hunted. DeidaraxTenten with some NejixTenten...
1. Eyes in the Rain

**A short intro to a fanfic I may possibly write with my favourite pairing: DeiTen. **

**If people like this, then I will continue…probably. If not, I'll leave it as a oneshot. **

**Oh, and this takes place in a universe where Sasori has NOT been killed, but escaped at the last minute from Chiyo and Sakura!**

**I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, unfortunately.**

**Please enjoy and review!**

"I'll see you when I get back, alright?" Tenten called to her team-mates as he walked slowly away from their camp.

It was be no means a clear summer night. Although it was mid July, and should by all rights have been a warm relaxing evening, it was anything but. The densely wooded forest drooped under the rain that fell continually upon it, turning even the driest patch of land into a quagmire. Not the ideal weather for an important mission, Tenten thought to herself.

She couldn't believe her bad luck, lately. Not only had they only just returned from their mission rescuing the Kazekage Gaara which had almost ending in a failure, they had immediately been sent out once more on a different mission. On top of that, this was almost certainly more difficult, and she was taken to wonder whether Lady Tsunade had been in her right mind to assign it to her team.

Their assignment had been to follow, track and report back on the Akatsuki duo that had killed the Kazekage and managed to escape. Sure, Lee and Gai-sensei were excellent when it came to close combat, but stealth? She rolled her eyes as she thought of Lee and all of the cock ups he would undoubtedly make. Neji on the other hand was able to be quiet and sensible, but could get so overbearing sometimes.

Tenten hated the way that he always assumed he was the strongest. She had the sneaking suspicion that Neji thought kunoichi could never be as good as Shinobi, and that drove Tenten mad. At first, she guessed she had liked Neji well enough, when they were younger, in the days of chunin exams. Now that he was a jounin, his haughtiness was getting hard to stand.

As for Gai-sensei, he blatantly ignored her, always referring to his protégé Lee or even Neji. But he hardly ever looked at Tenten. This was why she had given over almost all of her time when she wasn't training with them to train on her own. Every evening, she could be found flinging kunai, shuriken, katana or almost any other weapon at targets and dummies in the training ground at the village.

Tenten wanted to make herself better than any of her team-mates, better than anyone at all for that matter, so she could prove once and for all that she was superior. It had become somewhat an obsession. She would stumble into her room past midnight sometimes, stiff all over from exertion and just collapse then and there.

So much had she willed to surpass her team-mates and teacher, that she had started resenting them more and more for ignoring her so, indeed, she resented everyone for that matter.

Tenten stopped and turned her face to the camp she had left behind. Yes, she was a suitable distance away to start her nightly training now. She was out of hearing range and Neji's Byakugan shouldn't be able to reach this far into the dense wood. The rain would also help.

Tenten decided to start with the basics. She reached into her pocket and drew out a handful of kunai, smiling proudly as she eyed the razor sharp edges that she had kept so perfectly maintained.

At that moment, she spun around and threw all of them at once in the blink of an eye. There came simultaneous 'thud's as they all met their mark. Tenten grinned smugly as she walked over to the nearest one, regarding how it had sank so deep into the wood that its handle was only just showing. She had been working recently on infusing her chakra into the blades and weapons to give them more accuracy and power, and it seemed to be working.

All five of the kunai had hit the tree trucks at a level that would be equal to where the average enemy's skull would have been. Tenten always went for the kill these days.

Once she had gathered all of the kunai up again, she moved on to more interesting techniques. Removing a scroll from her bag, she threw it up into the air, allowing it to flap open and the parchment to flare out, displaying the symbols inscribed upon it for a second. There was an explosion of pale smoke, and when it cleared, Tenten held in her hands a pair of long scythe-like objects, both elegant and yet deadly.

She began to swing them around, so fast that they became twin dark grey blurs. They span in ever widening arcs as she gradually fed in more of the chain that was attached to them.

Tenten swiped one of them at a nearby tree, smiling widely with triumph as the crazily whirling blade sliced cleaning through the truck, felling it. The other was poised so it span around her, a perfect strategy that incorporated defensive and offensive at the same time.

After having reeled the pair of weapons back in and stored them away once more, she reached for the two scrolls that were most precious to her. They were the two she had used in that first chunin exam against Temari, and yet lost anyway. That incident had damaged her pride so much; it fuelled her to keep going no matter what.

Since then, she had made a couple of adjustments to her jutsu using these scrolls, and altered the scrolls themselves for that matter. She spent a lot of her time perfecting and adding to it, combining several different techniques, and even now was still not content with the final result. For a weapons mistress who strove for perfection, this had become a mission in itself for her.

She was just about to begin practising using it when a voice stopped her dead.

"Pretty slick moves for such a pretty cute girl." The voice remarked.

It was taunting and arrogant, and yet Tenten couldn't help the goose bumps it gave her. However, what whoever they were had said had bruised her pride, which made her furious.

"Who are you? Why are you spying on me?" She demanded, gripping the scrolls tightly.

"I believe it would be more accurate to ask why you are spying on us…" drawled another voice.

This one seemed less teasing, but was smooth and emotionless. Tenten whirled around, peering through the rain into the trees around her, positive that the voices had come from up there.

"What do you mean, spying on you…unless…" Tenten began.

Ah, hell.

"We thought it sensible to observe the enemy, and I must say I m reasonable impressed, hmmm?" said the first voice patronisingly, as though whoever-it-was washer teacher or something.

Tenten took a step backwards as she finally recognised who was speaking. She had only ever seen him once before, and had almost come off worse in that fight, and at that point she'd had Neji, Gai, Lee and others with her. It was only thanks to Kakashi's sharingan that she was even alive now.

"Akatsuki…?" She breathed.

"Smart girl…" said the second voice silkily.

There was a sound of branches moving and a dull 'thud' as her two onlookers leapt to the ground a short way in front of her. Tenten tensed. She had been right. In front of her stood two figures wearing the distinctive black and red uniforms of the Akatsuki organisation. One was slightly taller, and from what Tenten could see through the rain, had long blonde hair that fell over one eye tied into a half-ponytail. He was grinning. The other, slightly shorter, wore an emotionless expression with hair that was bright flaming red, evident even in the dull night.

"You…Deidara?" Tenten asked to taller one.

"Of course, hm?" He replied.

"And Sasori?"

The red-head nodded, but didn't speak.

Tenten narrowed her eyes. These two matched the mission documents that she had seen exactly. She looked behind her, wondering how long it would take to sprint back to camp and alert the others.

"Don't bother trying to run." Sasori said.

Tenten gritted her teeth. She had two options. Run, or fight. From what she had experienced, fighting was out of the question. That left only one alternative.

In that instant, Tenten bolted sideways, into the woods. She sprinted through the rain faster than she had ever run before, but with a sudden flash of inspiration, away from the camp. She didn't want to lead the two Akatsuki right on top of her team-mates. She was confident now that she was more powerful than most of them, but even so, they were unsuited to the enemy's style. She sped up, the rain stinging her skin as she dodged tree trunks and marshy areas where the rain had turned the ground to marshes.

"I told you that wouldn't work, hmm?" Deidara said to his team-mate with a sideways glance.

"Shut up and fly after her, brat." Replied his partner, looking away at the direction the girl had run.

"At once, Danna." Mocked Deidara, dodging a well aimed swipe from Sasori.

He grinned and looked at the mouth on his hand expectantly. It coughed up a small clay bird that unfolded its tiny wings as it stood in her palm. Deidara threw it up into the air and made a hand seal, watching with satisfaction as it grew to the size of a horse.

"See you later, hm?" Deidara said as he leapt onto the bird's back.

It quickly rose above the line of trees and flew off in pursuit of Tenten.

"Stupid girl…" murmured Sasori as he watched.

Meanwhile, Tenten was still running for her life through the forest. She looked up, and saw that the silhouette of a huge bird was just above her. She knew who it was from. However, she barely had time to think before noticing a smaller bird right by her side.

There was a noise that shook the ground as the model exploded. Tenten had jumped just in time to the side, but was still sent flying into a thorn bush. She dragged herself out, tearing her skin and clothes in the process. Her arms and face were covered in small cuts, and there was a deep gash on her arm. Blood quickly soaked into the white fabric of her shirt.

She was breathing heavily, and knew that running was useless. She reached for her favourite twin scrolls, knowing that she had to use them before it was too late. The shadow of Deidara's transport bird was still above her and he was no doubt preparing another bomb.

Tenten closed her eyes as she threw the pair of scrolls up into the air. She leapt up from the ground at the same time until she was on a level with them, and caught them deftly in her hands. She twisted her body lithely in the air, the paper from the scrolls whirling around her body as she did so.

Deidara smirked to himself as he watched, wondering what she was going to do. Well, she sure knew how to keep him interested. The way she was moving was so…artistic.

Tenten alighted on a branch behind her, her face cold. The scrolls glowed as once more she let them leave her hands. Her fingers formed a sequence of hand-seals, as her eyes snapped open.

"Ninja art, Dragon's Fangs Jutsu!" She cried.

At once, the air all around Tenten seemed to draw in the misty rain until it had a consistency like steam, or fog. It twisted around her, forming a snake-like shape that was about as thick as several of the tree trunks around her. It was whirling within itself, like it was a miniature tornado, as it rose above the line of the trees and bore down upon Deidara still atop his clay bird that no looked small and insignificant.

The long tornado's shape was changing once again, and for a second, Deidara swore it looked exactly like the face of a dragon with eyes as black as bottomless pits. The creature opened its maw, facing Deidara.

Deidara anticipated what it was about to do, and launched himself off of his clay bird just in time. Countless numbers of weapons, hundreds, maybe more, were blasted at the bird. It was instantly full of them, looking more like a pincushion than anything else. Within a minute it was over, and the clay object that was now anything but a bird dropped like a stone to the ground.

Tenten looked up. Had she got him?

She leapt down from the tree she had been standing in, crouching down. She was panting with effort, the jutsu having cost her greatly.

"Is he dead?" she asked herself.

"No, he isn't."

Tenten spun around to see Deidara standing over her, his eyes narrowed and a triumphant smile on his lips. She barely had any time to react before he slammed her back against the tree behind her.

She cried out in pain as his hands gripped her shoulders. His face was only a few inches from hers, those bright cerulean eyes were piercing right into her own soft brown ones.

"I certainly wasn't expecting that, Tenten, hm?" He said quietly to her.

Tenten struggled and kicked, but didn't have the strength to fight him off. He laughed at her and leant closer, enjoying her reaction to shrink back into closer to the tree, trying to get away from him.

"Deidara!" drawled a familiar voice from behind the blonde.

Deidara looked around.

"Danna?"

"I thought I told you to kill her."

"I was just having a bit of fun, hmmm?"

"Then allow me to intervene before you go and do something you regret."

Deidara looked at him team-mate quizzically, before he moved away from Tenten. The girl in question sank against the tree as soon as he left, breathing heavily. Her eyes were wide, and the cut on her arm throbbed painfully. There was nothing she could do, nothing. She looked up at the two Akatsuki members standing right in front of her, wondering what they would do.

Sasori undid his cloak until it revealed his chest and stomach. Tenten gasped in repulsion at the puppet body, and it froze her to the spot with shock.

"This won't hurt a bit." Purred Sasori as out of where the stomach should have been, a thin stinger unwound itself from around a metal pole.

It advanced towards her like snake preparing to strike, dripping with purple poison.

Tenten gave a sharp intake of breath as it shot forwards and she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Her vision started to blur, and she wanted to sleep. The last things she saw were the silhouettes of the two Akatsuki members looming in front of her, before everything went black.


	2. New Face

**People seemed to like the first chapter so I therefore will write more!**

**It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who supports DeiTen; it's such a great pairing!**

**I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.**

The light in the room was dim and felt sterile and cold. Tenten groaned as shielded her eyes, even though it was not exactly bright. She was lying on a small bed with plain white sheets and pillow, and as her eyes adjusted to the light saw that there were various wooden shelves on the walls around the room full of all sorts of strange medical implements and bottles of liquid.

Her head felt like it was on fire, aching terribly. She blinked and tried to sit up, crying out as a sudden pain in her neck made her drop back down into the bed on which she lay. She put a tentative hand out and touched the source of the pain. She winced as it stung and drew her hand away, narrowing her eyes at the pale brown sticky substance that had rubbed off onto her fingers.

"I suggest you don't wipe too much of that away." A voice by her ear said.

Tenten spun around, causing another spasm of pain from her neck. Gritting her teeth, she focussed on the owner of the voice. A familiar shock of crimson hair told her it was Sasori. His cold mocking eyes looked bored and disinterested as he regarded her.

"What have you done? Where am I? Why have you brought me here?" She said, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"Stop with the questions already…and besides, don't get the idea I want you to be alive." Replied the puppet master, crossing his arms, "As far as I'm concerned, we should have left you there to die in the forest, but Leader thinks he can put a use to you. And as for where you are, you're in the medical room of the Akatsuki base."

"What…?"

"And as for the wound on your shoulder, if you rub away much more of the anti-toxin, you'll pass out again. The particular poison I used takes a little while to counteract. And it's only me here because I am the only one who knows how to use the cure."

As Sasori spoke, Tenten could see him becoming slightly more enthusiastic as he spoke about his area of expertise. Was that a smile?

"In any case, Leader will want to see you soon. I suggest you get some rest for now." He said nonchalantly.

Tenten struggled to sit up once more, her head throbbing painfully, and tried to swing her weight over the side of the bed so that she could stand up. She cursed at the pain, but Sasori intervened. She winced at a sharp pain in her forearm before looking to see that Sasori had injected something into her arm.

"That's to make you sleep. Just stay put alright? Or I'll make sure I DO kill you this time."

Tenten was about to reply, furious, but gradually felt her limbs numbing once more. She hated being o helpless, but was unable to move as she lost consciousness for the second time that evening.

The next time that Tenten awoke, she looked around and saw that the veins all around a surprisingly small wound on her neck were dark blue, standing out through her pale skin. She gave a sharp intake of breath in repulsion at what she saw.

"You should have seen yourself earlier." Deidara said with a grin as he looked at her where she sat on the small bed.

Tenten's gaze snapped up onto him, and her eyes narrowed in fury. She felt stronger than before, more than capable of loosing her temper and kicking this guy up his arrogant butt. With a wince that she quickly forced away, she leapt out of the small bed and crossed the room over to him.

"Whoa, now hang on a minute! I only came to bring you to Leader dammit, as Sasori up and left about an hour ago! There's no need to get all aggressive!"

"Oh, apart from almost killing me, kidnapping me and confining me in this place? Plus staring at me while I was asleep!"

"Yeah, exactly. Now come on, hmmm?"

Tenten instinctively reached into her pockets, but they were empty. This really made her mad, as her weapons were the most precious things she owned. She poured her life into them. She stared at Deidara, her brown eyes blazing.

"Where are my weapons?" She asked in a low but dangerous voice.

"Don't worry they're all safe. We merely took them as a precaution for instances like…this." Deidara replied, walking over to the door, seemingly unaffected by her demonic face, "Look, I'd settle down if I were you. Leader won't appreciate your bad temper."

Tenten clenched her fists but controlled her anger as she followed the blonde, trying to keep calm. If he teased her much more so would explode. She sighed, closing her eyes, and decided that the best thing to do for the moment until she found a way of escaping from this place was to learn as much as she could about her surroundings.

As Tenten followed Deidara through the corridor, she couldn't help but wonder where the base was located. Surely a building would draw too much attention? The walls that surrounded her more quite plain, with the occasional door that lead to other rooms.

"So, where is this place…?" She asked as she looked around.

"Hm? It's hidden inside a cave, although I won't tell you where just in case. Anyhow, it has layers and layers of protective and concealing jutsus around it so that no-one can find it. Again, don't think I'll go into detail, hm?" Deidara replied without looking at her.

"I see…" Tenten said to herself, thinking that as a result it must be almost impossible to break out of the place.

"Here we are." Deidara said with a grin as he stopped outside a wooden door that to Tenten looked exactly the same as all of the others.

He knocked on the door briefly before entering the dark room, Tenten following curiously behind him. The room was dimly lit and very plain, with grey walls and a wooden floor. At one end of the room stood a basic desk, upon which lay stacks of reports and documents of varying importance. As Tenten's eyes roamed around the room, she saw the figure of the Leader, at the far side of the room with his back to them. However, he couldn't have actually been there because all Tenten could see was some sort of hazy hologram. The projection flickered slightly as the Leader turned around to look at Deidara and Tenten.

"Deidara, you can leave. You," He said to Tenten, "sit."

The leader voice was low and yet unnervingly featureless.

Deidara nodded but looked as though he would rather stay. Tenten's gaze followed him out as he left the room, closing the door behind him. She then turned back to the shadow of the Leader.

"I apologize; I cannot be here at this moment. You are Tenten of the Hidden Leaf, correct?" He asked.

"Yes. Why have you brought me here?" Tenten asked, her eyes narrowing.

Even in her current predicament, she was still angry and wanted answers.

"I didn't. I was told that you could be of use to the organization. It was either that or to let you die in the forest."

"What? Who told you?"

"Deidara contacted me shortly after you were poisoned. He said that you used techniques that we possess few of currently in the Akatsuki. He also mentioned that you are quite an adept ninja."

Tenten went pink, and hoped that the Leader's projection didn't notice.

"What? Deidara didn't say anything like that to me!" She said quickly.

"Yes, well I doubted he would tell you. He is far too proud for that." Leader replied before turning to the haphazardly stacked pile of documents on his desk.

"In any case, I am not going to allow a Leaf Ninja into my organisation. Not straight away. You must first prove that you are of worth to Akatsuki."

"And how do you plan to do that?" queried Tenten, crossing her arms.

"We will pit you against one of us, naturally. Of course, whoever you have to fight will be handicapped, seeing as you are already injured." He replied.

"You mean you're going to make me fight without having healed first?" Tenten spluttered indignantly.

"Of course. If we wait it may give you time to try and betray us. And even if you do, we will hunt you down and make sure to kill you."

Tenten sat back in her chair with a sigh, closing her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. If she didn't show her worth in this stupid test, they would kill her. If she tried to escaped, they would kill her. If she somehow by a miracle passed the test, she would become an Akatsuki member…

"Look, Tenten." Said the Leader as he walked through the room so that he stood before her.

His eyes, the only part of his true self visible, burned into her. She couldn't pull her gaze away from the strange pattern that surrounded his pupil that looked like grey ripples widening from the centre.

"I know that this is better for you as well as us. Tell me; are you a truly valuable member of your village?"

"What the…of course! I mean…"

"Are you held in high esteem and respected?"

"You don't understand, I…"

"Do others recognise your skill and commend you for it?"

"…No…they don't. They never have. I guess…they always overlook me because I never do anything that gets noticed. I don't end up fighting the demon-kid in the chunin exams, I don't attract all the attention and sympathy by having a family curse mark confining me, and they're all to busy feeling sorry for themselves to notice me or what I try to tell them!"

As Tenten spoke, she grew angrier and angrier as she thought about her old team and her village, and how she was neglected and ignored, her abilities overlooked and left to tarnish.

"Exactly. You'll come around to us eventually…wait and see." Said the leader, walking away from her once more.

Tenten looked up at his retreating form, her eyes full of fury again. But this time, it was not aimed at the Akatsuki at all.

"Your test will take place in one hour. I suggest you be there, for your own sake. Konan will watch in my place and report back to me. She will deicide your adversary for you. You will find your weapons and scrolls in a cabinet back in the medical room; you will no doubt need them. You may go now, and prepare." He said in his featureless voice, conveying that the conversation was over.

Tenten nodded and got to her feet, taking one last look at the Leader's fuzzy silhouette before she left the room, closing her door quietly behind her. The corridor outside was deserted, and having no idea of where she was going, she decided to retrace her steps to the medical room and find her belongings. However, it was no easy task. All of the doors in the hallway looked identical, so she had to guess which was the right one.

After an indecisive couple of moments, she came to what she thought must be the door to the medical room. She turned her handle and pushed it open, expecting to be met with the clinical odour and shelves full of tools.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Roared a voice from within the room as she stared inside.

Tenten went as white as a sheet. In the centre of the room sat a pale man with slicked back silver-white hair. He was wearing the familiar Akatsuki outfit, but it was what he was doing that grabbed her attention. A long black spike was piercing right through his chest, protruding out the other side. All around him the floor was covered in a puddle of scarlet blood that also ran down his cloak and seemed to be drawn in a symbol beneath where he sat.

Tenten stepped backwards in repulsion as the man got to his feet with a grunt of pain, pulling the spike out of his chest with a sickening 'squelch'. Evidently this was not the medical room.

"How DARE you interrupt my ritual, bitch!" He snarled at her, clasping the black metal spike in his hand tightly.

He seemed unaffected by the fact that blood was spattering the floor from his wound as he advanced towards her, eyes narrowed.

"What on earth is he?" Tenten hissed in shock.

"_He _is not happy when someone walks in on his silly ceremony, hm?" Came a voice from behind her.

Deidara grinned as his looked down at her, his eyes full of amusement as he stepped in front of her and confronted Hidan.

"What has leader told you about scaring the newbies?" Deidara asked patronisingly, regarding the bloody mess in Hidan's room without looking taken aback in the slightest.

"Deidara, get out of here before I skewer you as well!" Growled Hidan, his eyes murderous.

Deidara laughed before shutting Hidan's door and allowing him to continue uninterrupted. He turned to Tenten expectantly.

"What, don't I even get a thank you, hm?"

"Thank you, hm. And stop stalking me." Said Tenten as she looked away.

"I am not stalking you!" Deidara replied.

"Uhuh, so that's why you seem to turn up weherever I go." Tenten countered as she tentatively opened the next door along the corridor, waiting for another psycho to try and kill her.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the white sheets of the medical bed and the medicines lining the walls. Crossing the room to the cabinet at the far side of the room, she noticed that Deidara had disappeared. She smiled, hoping that he wouldn't bother her again. He seemed to enjoy making her jump out of her skin, and went out of his way to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Annoying idiot." She said to herself as she gathered her various scrolls and weapons from the cabinet.

It was then that she began to feel a dull acing sensation in her stomach. Great. She was now hungry as well as lost and in mortal peril as a result of a group of criminals from whom she had no hope of escape. With a sigh, Tenten left the small medical room and headed out into the corridor once more. Fighting for her life on an empty stomach would not increase her chances of success. She guessed that it was time she located the kitchen.


	3. Examination

**And here we have chapter three! **

**Please review and enjoy! **

**I do not own Naruto, however much I'd like to.**

After about fifteen minutes of trying to find her way through the tangled corridors of the Akatsuki base, Tenten finally managed to locate the kitchen. As she entered the room, she looked around wondering what sort of food they had here. The kitchen was slightly larger than the other rooms, but shared the bland grey walls and bare wooden flooring. There were surprisingly two fridges in the room, but she supposed with quite a few members with different preferences, two fridges were required.

There was a solid oak round table in the centre of the room, with about six or seven chairs arranged around it at random intervals. Tenten sighed as she saw stacks of used dishes and remnants of old meals littering the surface. Then again, she had never been the neat type, unless you counted her weapons.

Along the wall next to the fridges was a long work top on which more detritus lay. Below these were numerous cupboards and there was a sink on the other side of the room from washing up, although she guessed this didn't often happen.

After a drawn out sigh, Tenten crossed the kitchen to the nearest fridge, and tentatively opened the door. Her eyes roamed around the mostly empty space, and seeing nothing that really enticed her, she pulled open the freezer below it. There was something in there, something pink and dull red…

With a gasp, Tenten realised what it was. In the freezer lay a human hand encrusted with ice crystals, the severed end showing some of the white bone sticking out of the frozen flesh. Tenten gagged and slammed the freezer and the fridge, taking a step back.

"Ah, I see you've found Zetsu's stash then!" came a voice from behind her.

Tenten whirled around, surprised at the sound of the voice. It was not emotionless or arrogant or just plain weird like some of the other Akatsuki, but strangely cheerful and enthusiastic. Before her stood a tall Akatsuki member, wearing the usual uniform but with a bright orange mask completely covering his face.

"Zetsu's…a cannibal?" spluttered Tenten in horror.

"Yup! Although, I don't know if cannibal's the right word for him, I mean, he's not exactly all human…" Tobi answered, scratching his head uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?" Asked Tenten, perplexed.

"Trust me; you'll know when you see him!" Said the masked Akatsuki member happily.

Tenten looked at him in wonder. What other freaks did this place hold? In any case, she felt very much like she had lost her appetite after the glimpse of the delicious frozen human hand, so moved as if to leave the kitchen.

"Oh, my name's Tobi, by the way! I was the previous rookie here, so I hope we can get to know each other! You know, if you aren't killed today an' all." He added.

"Uh...thanks…" Tenten said, unsure of whether she meant it or not.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Whoever her opponent might turn out to be later, she knew that some scope of the battle-field was always a good plan before the test began. She turned to Tobi, who was watching her leave.

"Say, Tobi, do you think you could she show me where it is I'll be fighting later?" She asked.

"Of course! I'd be happy to! It'd be like being Senpai for once. But it's outside so you'll have to promise me you won't try to escape." Tobi said.

"I promise I won't try and escape." Tenten replied with a sigh.

"Good!" Exclaimed Tobi.

The masked Akatsuki member then turned and began to walk through the maze of corridors, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor. Ever now and again he would look briefly behind himself to check that Tenten was following before facing forward and concentrating on the route again. At least, that's what Tenten thought; after all, that mask obscured any chance she had of reading his face.

Tenten began to think seriously about the test ahead of her. Loosing was out of the question, as she would be killed incase she blabbed about Akatsuki if they let her go. Her only chance was to somehow defeat her opponent or at least put up a good fight against them long enough to suitably impress the others so that they would allow her to join Akatsuki. One she reached that point, she could start thinking about escape.

However, the more Tenten thought about running away from the orginistaion and returning to her village, the more doubtful she became. The Akatsuki would pursue her of course and try to murder her. As well as that, she started to wonder whether she really wanted to leave at all…as soon as those thoughts crossed her mind she banished them instantly. What was she thinking about? Of course she wanted to go back home!

Tenten sighed, pulling her thoughts back to the present as she walked behind Tobi. Most importantly right now, she needed to come up with a plan for her match, a plan that would hopefully work for all of the Akatsuki members despite the fact she didn't know what kind of freakish powers they had apart from what she had heard about Itachi and Kisame and what she had experienced of Sasori and Deidara.

At last, just as Tenten had begun to think the base had no end, they reached a door right at the end of the corridor. Tenten sighed with relief. It really was a good idea, she thought, to have a base that was almost impossible to find your way out of unless you were a member of the orginistaion. Tobi took out a key from his robes and fitted it into the door's lock. With a 'click', it unlocked and Tobi swung the door open.

Tenten blinked at the sudden bright light. She had no concept of time in the Akatsuki base, as there were no windows or links to the outside world. However, as she stepped out into the sunlight she realised she must have been out cold for at least a day, maybe more. More than that, the horrid misty rain had petered out and the sky was cloudless. On the downside, this meant it was going to be extremely hot fighting out here, but she supposed it was better than being wet through and blinded by rain.

She looked back at the door from which she had just emerged and her eyebrows rose in surprise. The door frame was sunken into the wall of a sheer rock-face that rose above them almost vertically.

"Neat, huh?" Asked Tobi as he watched her awed face.

"Very…so where is this?" Tenten asked.

"I can't tell you exactly, but it's the 'back door' to the base. There is another concealed entrance around the other side, behind a waterfall. Oops, I guess I shouldn't have told you that. Never mind, just don't tell Senpai okay?" Tobi said.

"Of course." Tenten replied with a smile. This Tobi guy sure was odd; not what she expected of an Akatsuki member at all.

"I'm going to wait here until the others turn up. You can have a look around and plan what you might do but don't try and run off." Tobi continued.

Tenten gave a haggard nod before turning away from the masked Akatsuki member and surveying the battleground. Spread out in front of her was a clearing in the forest that stretched away in either direction and in front of her. It was about one hundred meters in diameter, and the ground was bare earth, with some occasional patched of faded grass that became more numerous the further you were from the centre.

She guessed that this area must serve as the training ground as well as the premises for her battle, which explained the potholes and where it looked like whole chunks of earth had been blasted out of the ground.

In places there were dark patches stained with blood, although Tenten decided she didn't want to know where those came from. She paced from one side to the other of the clearing before an idea hit her. Allowing herself a small smile, she kneeled down and got to work.

Twenty minutes later, she heard her name being called. Getting quickly to her feet from where she had been kneeling a few moments ago, she sighed. This plan had better work. Brushing the earth off of her dark burgundy trousers, she walked over to where she saw an Akatsuki member waiting for her ho she hadn't met before.

The woman was tall, taller than Tenten, and had a graceful yet intimidating face that was devoid of feeling. Her eyes were bright amber and burned into Tenten fiercely. The woman's hair was a vivid dark blue colour. This surprised Tenten somewhat, having never seen someone with such strangely coloured hair, unless you counted Sakura's ridiculous pink mop.

"My name is Konan," Said the woman in a voice that was as expressionless as her face, "Your time is up. When the others are here, I will tell you who your opponent is and you will begin."

Tenten nodded quickly, not saying anything. She too a deep breath and turned away before pacing a little way into the clearing, running through her strategy again and again in her mind. For a situation like this she really needed Shikamaru or Neji…

Looking back at where she had left Konan, she noticed the rest of the Akatsuki were filing out of the door in the rock face to stand by her. Tobi of course was still there from earlier, but she now also saw Deidara, smirking as usual, the Hidan guy who had tried o impale her earlier, and an assortment of others. There was Itachi Uchiha, and the blue shark-man who had fought her before and almost made her drown. She also saw a tall man with weird red and green eyes and a mask that covered most of his face. Sasori also soon emerged, looking bored and uninterested. Lastly the astonishing person of them all appeared. He was almost as tall as Kisame as it was, but also sported a pair of huge green growths on either shoulder that looked like mandibles, but dark green, like an aloe plant. His face was split into a white side and a black side, and his eyes glowed eerily yellow.

All nine of them stared at Tenten, and Tenten stared defiantly back, refusing to be intimidated or scared. Konan, the only woman Tenten could see, crossed her arms and prepared to speak.

"Tenten of the Hidden Leaf. If you win or show significant prowess against you enemy in this fight, you will be permitted to join Akatsuki. If not, we will kill you. Do you understand the terms?" She asked her voice loud and clear.

"Yes." Affirmed Tenten equally clearly.

"Very well. After careful deliberation, I have decided who your opponent will be. You are going to battle Deidara." Continued Konan.

"What? Why him?" burst out Tenten indignantly; she had had just about enough of that arrogant blonde.

"You both have some experience of each other's fighting styles. Therefore, the fight should be a little more thought out than if you were ignorant of the others abilities." Konan explained, her eyes narrowing in irritation slightly.

Tenten clenched her fists in anger as she looked at Deidara. He grinned back at her; evidently thinking that this fight would be as simple as their last one. Tenten put on a grim smile. This time things would go differently.

"Deidara, as Tenten here is still recovering from Sasori's poison, you will naturally be handicapped." Said Konan.

"Sure, whatever. What do you want me to do, hmm?" Asked Deidara casually.

"You are not allowed to use any chakra level in you explosives over C2, understood? That means no Ohako, or the Karura." Replied Konan.

"What? But!"

"Shut up and get on with it, brat. Don't keep me waiting." Growled Sasori, his cold eyes narrowed in impatience.

Deidara sighed and walked into the clearing, facing Tenten. His face was full of irritation as he mumbled angrily to himself about 'trying to tell him how to create his art' and 'trying to contain his artistic ability'.

He looked up at kunoichi in front of him, the mouths in his palms chewing the clay inside them, preparing it for use.

"Do you think you're ready, girl?" Deidara asked with his familiar self-confident smirk.

"I do." Replied Tenten in a voice that was dangerously low.

"You may begin." Konan said.

Tenten at once leapt backwards several feet and flung a scroll into the air, catching it in the other hand as it flapped open and the symbols on the inside became visible. Instantly, it vanished in a cloud of smoke and was replaced by Tenten's prized twin scythes.

At the same time as Tenten was doing this, Deidara had left his hands as the mouths spat out an array of explosives and his transport bird, the owl design that he had used for the capture of Gaara. It flew out of his outstretched hands and alighted on the earth in front of him as Deidara formed a hand-seal and grinned as the small doll instantaneously grew to the size that was capable of carrying him.

Deidara jumped onto its back as the bird extended its wings and took off into the air, clouds of dust billowing out from the draft it created as it rose. Soon, Deidara was hovering about thirty feet above Tenten.

Tenten looked up, her teeth clenched in concentration as she began to spin the scythes, one acting as her defence, the other as offence. However, however far she cast the offensive weapon, Deidara would simply dodge out of the way. At that Moment, Deidara threw three of his small clay spiders at her. She saw them flying straight for her, perfectly aimed. She had to commend him for that, at least. Transferring both scythes into one hand quickly, she reached into her pocket and drew out a hand-full of kunai.

In the nick of time, she hurled all of them, much like she had done the day before training in the forest. The Kunai hit each of the bombs that were flying towards her simultaneously, and they were pierced right through and carried with the trajectory of the kunai until they sunk into the bark of three trees that surrounded the clearing. Tenten stumbled as they exploded, making the ground shake beneath her.

Deidara laughed dryly from where he hovered far above her.

"So, kunoichi, what are you going to do now? He asked.


	4. Betrayal

**Another chapter, this time with some more action than the last ones!**

**I do not own Naruto, although I seem to own enough spare time to write these…**

**It might be a little while before I update *ducks flying Uchihas* but I'll do as best I can!**

Tenten looked at the dust that was clearing in the aftermath of the three explosions not fifty metres away from her. Her eyes held a pained expression as she saw the mess that had been her prized weapons; the heat from the blast having damaged them beyond repair.

The kunoichi looked at Deidara above her with more venom than ever as he wheeled and soared through the sky, the shadow of his bird falling upon her.

"You just wait and see!" She hissed, her eyes deadly.

Her swift mind calculated Deidara's position in concurrence with her plan. He was no good to her whilst he was up in the air…

Tenten looked at the pair of scythes that she still span in her left hand, as an idea formulated in her mind. With another swift glance at Deidara and a grim smile, she knew what she had to do. At the moment, Deidara's clay bird was out of reach of her thrown weapons; he would dodge them before they had time to hit.

"Try this one then, yeah!" yelled Deidara from above her, his eyes wide and full of the exhilaration and adrenalin of the fight.

From the blonde shinobi's hands flew another projectile bomb, different the clay spiders and birds she had seen before. This one had two pairs of wings, and a long streamlined figure, like a predatory water bird.

"Let's see you dodge this, hm?" Deidara laughed.

The bird shot towards Tenten faster than most weapons Tenten could throw. It was a guided missile, thought Tenten as her eyes widened. Evidently, Deidara wanted to end the match quickly if he was throwing in this trump card so early on.

The clay projectile was almost upon her as she whipped a scroll from her bag at the last second.

A blast that made the eardrum feel like it was being shattered shook through the clearing, the shock waves spreading out from the explosion like ripples. The silent watchers look on, a few of them raising their arms to shield their face from the light that the explosion had emitted. Konan however, didn't even flinch.

"Yeah!" shouted Deidara, grinned maniacally and laughing from his position in mid air.

There was no way Tenten could even be recognisable after an explosion like that, let alone alive, thought Sasori with disdain to himself. Honestly, to be taken down with such ridiculous pyrotechnics was truly pathetic.

Suddenly, something shot through the air, easily as fast as the path of the bird from the cloud of smoke and dust that had not yet settled around the explosion. A pair of scythe blades ripped through the sky towards Deidara, spinning so fast that they were a blur.

Deidara was still too euphoric to register the threat and had no time to prepare for the impact or dodge far enough out of the way. He did however, manage to move the bird a foot or so up before the whirling missiles hit.

The twin blades tore smoothly through the clay wings, completely severing them from the main body. Deidara flinched in pain as one of them cut a deep gouge into his right arm, blood quickly welling up in the gash and running scarlet down his forearm.

He was falling, down and down towards the ground, faster and faster. At the last second his hands spat out another transport clay bird, but it was too late. The bird expanded just before they hit the ground, giving them no time to fly upwards again.

There was a loud 'thud' as he smacked against the clay that smacked against the ground beneath. The clay was a sticky mess, but it had at least cushioned his fall. Struggling to his feet, he looked across at where Tenten should have been blown to smithereens, panting and clutching his heavily bleeding arm.

Tenten was kneeling in the centre of a crater that stretched for about ten meters either direction from her. She was breathing heavily, her eyes sharp with concentration and loathing. Her arms were help up level in front of her, holding a strange object that looked like the metallic skeleton of an umbrella. There was a faint blue glow that surrounded her, and Deidara understood.

"A chakra shield?" asked Sasori as he watched with interest, his boredom having been dispelled.

"How on earth did she have that?" queried Kisame, looking briefly at Sasori who stood next to him.

"What do you think of this? Still think this is going to be a quick and easy match?" Tenten sneered, "I made this myself from the descriptions of Sasori's and Chiyo's chakra shields that Sakura told me. I modified them of course to match my techniques rather than the puppet master jutsu, but they're just as effective...if short-lived."

As she spoke, the blue light faded and died, and the crossed slats of metal which had emanated the light cracking and falling apart. Deidara smirked. Evidently the blast from the explosion had been too much for the chakra shield. Even so, it had negated his attack efficiently, and the girl was not injured from the explosion at all.

Tenten's face was smeared with dirt and grime from where the dust thrown up by the blast had stuck to the perspiration on her face.

She knew she was tiring; her concentration was wavering. She needed to end the fight quickly, before she became exhausted. At the same time, she needed to keep Deidara reasonably close to stop him using his long range attacks. She couldn't allow him to fly.

Meanwhile, Deidara was looked at Tenten with and irritated expression, the arrogant swagger gone form his movements. She was better than he had expected. His mind ran over the situation, planning his next move and analysing her attacks. There was no point using up most of his chakra producing his C-2 dragon. It would be ineffective as he didn't have Tobi to place the mines for him. At the same time, his pride had been seriously damaged.

Tenten smiled as she came up with a solution to the problem of Deidara's long distance fighting.

"Hey, Deidara!" she said loud enough for only him to her, her voice dripping with sarcasm and patronisation, "Is it really too much for you to fight a young girl on the ground? You coward, flying around up there! Are you really that afraid of me?"

Deidara's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. He knew her taunt was meant to weaken him, knew as a shinobi he was try not to listen to his emotions, but she drove him mad.

"How dare you! I'll kill you! I'm no coward. I'll fight you here on the ground to prove it!" He roared.

Tenten smiled, her plan having worked perfectly. Now, all she had to do was hold up against him until she could get him to the right place.

Deidara glowered at the kunoichi, a kunai gripped in both hands. He needed to either get past her defences or attack from within them. He suddenly remembered his battle against the Kazekage Gaara. Perhaps he could use the stratagem he had deployed there to get the upper hand in this battle.

Tenten tensed as the shinobi suddenly launched himself towards her. Tenten drew a long katana from her bag at her hip, raising the thin but razor sharp blade to position. However, Deidara had approached fast than she had been prepared for, and barely had time to block as his kunai slashed through the air at her throat. Tenten leant over backwards as lithe as a cat, swinging her body backwards over her head before landing lightly a few feet behind.

She ran forward, the katana parallel across her chest in a block position. However, she feinted to the side and swung it in a wide arc at Deidara. The blonde moved just in time, not before a thin cut had been opened along his shoulder. Before the kunoichi could recover her balance he threw himself at her, knocking her sideways to the ground.

Tenten cried out in shock and pain as her shoulder skidded arouses the earthy ground, scraping off some skin. As she sat up, something white shot towards her and wrapped sinuously around her body.

It was a long clay snake, its dark holes for eyes devoid of expression but mocking her none-the-less. It tightened around her waist, her arms, her neck; pinning her arms to her body. Tenten struggled but couldn't move.

"Here's how afraid I am of you." Whispered Deidara as he crouched down on the grown so he was level with her kneeling posture, his face inches from hers.

The blonde shinobi leant in and kissed her neck. He kissed her just hard enough to humiliate her beyond words, a deep red flush spreading over her cheeks. He grinned as he felt her tense in repulsion, but unable to shrink away from him.

Suddenly, Tenten swung her head sharply towards him. He had not tightened the snake tightly enough around her neck, and he gasped with pain as the metal of her headband hit him hard on his head.

"Argh!" Grunted Deidara as he stumbled backwards, massaging his bruised head with one hand.

Tenten stared at him, her face murderous. She was silent, and although she was blushing bright crimson, her eyes were full of fury.

"Why you…! I'll end this now!" Snarled Deidara.

He took a couple of steps back and formed a hand seal. The clay that wound about the kunoichi was made from his best C-2, and would blast her tiny pieces. However, just as he was about to shout 'katsu!' he was interrupted.

There was an upheaval in the earth beneath his feet, and he found himself fighting for balance. Dust and dirt was thrown up into the air around him. Deidara noticed that during their fight hey had moved backwards, towards the line of the trees. Looking back at Tenten's hunched kneeling form in front of him, he was astounded too see that she was smiling, her eyes narrowed in triumph. He then noticed a slight twitch of her fingers at her sides, and thought he recognised the faint blue glow at their tips.

However, he didn't have time to take a closer look as a pair of thick steel chains had erupted out of the ground beneath him and wrapped quickly around his legs, attaching him to the ground. Then, from the tree above him he saw a glint of light. As he looked up, teeth clenched, his cerulean eyes widened.

Above Deidara's head was a tightly packed mass of weapons. Senbon, katana, kunai, shuriken, almost every kind of weapon he had ever seen. He looked down at the chains and struggled, trying desperately to free himself.

"That won't do any good." Tenten said clearly, no hint of fear in her voice.

Her eyes were cold and loathing, fixed on Deidara.

"What? I don't understand! Where did they come from? And why are all those weapons just floating there?" Deidara growled in frustration.

"You didn't think my abilities were the same as that time when you kidnapped Gaara did you?" Tenten asked, sounding affronted, "I took a tip or two from Kankuro. I've trained myself in how to create chakra strings. Albeit they aren't enough to control a puppet; neither would I want to, but they are enough to hold a weapon off the ground. It took me a long time to teach myself and my team-mates don't even know I can do it. Needless to say, if you detonate this bomb, the chakra connection will be lost and all of those weapons will fall from up there down onto you. Splat."

The watching Sasori smiled briefly. It was quiet enjoyable for once to see Deidara at a loss for words.

"Heh…it seems we find ourselves in a no-win situation…" Deidara said begrudgingly, with a short laugh.

"It seems so." Tenten replied.

The pair stared at each other for a further few moments.

"Well done, Tenten." Rang Konan's voice clearly through the air.

The blue haired kunoichi crossed the earthy clearing over to where Deidara and Tenten remained, not moving in case the other one tried anything. Konan looked at the clay snake that wound around Tenten. Tenten turned her head to look at Konan in wonder and apprehension. Konan lifted one arm, and as she did so, it began to peel apart into small square slips of paper. Tenten's eye's widened in surprise as the paper pieces formed themselves into miniature paper blades.

The sharp edges darted towards Tenten, who had to calm her instinct to try and move away. The paper blades swiftly cut the clay in several places as though it were half melted butter, and they fell away to the ground. The Konoha Kunoichi gasped with relief as she gone breath easily again without the constricting force around her chest.

"Leave Deidara be, and release him." Konan warned as Tenten looked ready to drop the weapons on him anyway.

With a reluctant nod, Tenten's chains fell limply to the ground, and Deidara was free. He clenched his fists in anger but moved quickly out of the way as Tenten let go of the chakra strings. The heavy barrage of weapons crashed to the ground, sinking deep into the earth where Deidara had been standing moments before.

Tenten walked over and began pulling the blades out of the ground, string back in their various scrolls and holders. She was breathing heavily, exhausted from the fight. She looked up as Konan walked towards her.

"You fought well, Tenten." Said the blue haired kunoichi without a smile.

"Did I?" replied Tenten dryly.

"We will accept you into Akatsuki. Understand that if you decline this offer you will be killed, as you may divulge our secrets to your village. What is your answer?" demanded Konan, her cold eyes staring at the girl in front of her.

"I…uhm…"

"Why? Do you have some lingering attachments to your village?"

"No. I do not. If I join you I can surpass them all. I can even surpass my idol, Lady Tsunade if I work hard enough. I…I will join you." Tenten said, her eyes set.

Tenten was staring straight ahead, recalling all of those training sessions with her team where she had been left holding the target or posing as the enemy or just being overlooked. The thought of the looks on her colleague's faces when they saw her more powerful than they could ever imagine enticed her. All of her village would finally acknowledge her.

"I join Akatsuki." She repeated.

Tenten reached up to her forehead, and removed her headband. Then, as she held it in hands that were trembling ever so slightly, she slashed her kunai across the symbol that showed she was loyal to the Leaf.


	5. Unexpected Gift

**And here we have another chapter.**

**If anyone has any plot ideas I'd be happy to hear them, although I already have a basic plot outline sorted.**

**I do not own Naruto!**

The piercing sound of the metal on metal made Tenten wince as she cut the deep slash in the symbol on her headband. She sighed and looked at it, but instead of feeling sad was suddenly overcome with an immense feeling of pride. She had done what few others dared to do. Left her village and made it plain for the world to see. She found a wide smile on her lips and looked up at the rest of the Akatsuki watching her. Tenten lifted the slashed headband and tied it once more around her forehead.

"Very well. Welcome to the Akatsuki orginistaion, Tenten," Konan said in her bland voice to the brunette kunoichi in front of her, "understand that now you are a rogue ninja, your village will hunt you once they find out. Your friends will try to kill you and there is no going back."

"I have no friends." Growled Tenten, her eyes dark.

"Aaaw, that's a shame…you'll be just like Deidara-senpai; he has no friends!" Tobi piped up.

"Tobi!"

"Just kidding senpai! I'm your friend!"

Tenten fought back a smile as she watched Deidara try not t lose his temper. She felt an overwhelming sense of freedom upon her, now that she had broken all of her ties and bonds with the village she had called home for seventeen years. With a sigh, she closed her eyes as the situation sank in. she would never be able to see Lee, Neji or Gai ever again, and if she did they'd be enemies. However, she was surprised she didn't feel more remorse than she did.

"In any case, a uniform and a room will be prepared for you. Unfortunately it will not be ready by tonight. You will either have to share a room or find somewhere else to sleep." Konan continued, ignoring Deidara and Tobi.

"What?" spluttered Tenten as she looked up at the darkening sky.

"You heard me." Said Konan in a warning voice before turning and disappearing down the corridor.

Tenten narrowed her eyes. There was no way in hell she was sleeping in the same room as any of these guys; she hardly knew any of them, and definitely didn't trust a single one of them. With a sigh she decided she'd better come up with somewhere else to sleep.

Deidara grinned, seeing the pained expression on the kunoichi face. After his downfall during their match and his damaged pride, he felt an urge to irritate her as much as possible. He crossed his arms smirking and walked over to her as the other Akatsuki members filed back inside the base. He then leant towards her silently, his piercing blue eyes full of amusement.

"Hey, kunoichi, you can sleep in my room if you want, hmm?" he said in her ear.

Tenten jumped, having been too caught up in her own thoughts to realise Deidara was there, standing right beside her with his face inches from hers. Her cheeks went pink but her eyes were angry as she walked away from him, not replying.

Suddenly, a little way into the cool darkness of the corridor, she stopped, an idea forming in her mind. So, he wanted to humiliate her did he? She would throw it right back at him.

"That's very kind of you, Deidara, thank you." She said in a voice that lacked some of her usual defiance and character.

Deidara stared at her, completely stunned. He should have noted the change in her voice, but was too surprised to realise. He hadn't actually expected her to agree at all, and found he was rather at a loss at what to do. He composed himself and shrugged, grinning all the more. Perhaps he would enjoy having another female Akatsuki member after all…

"No problem, if you would just follow me, hmm?" He said.

Tenten scowled once he had drawn ahead of her and could not see her face. She hated to come across weak like this, but it was essential to her plan.

"Thank you, again." She replied, thinking that she was beginning to sound like Hinata.

Their footsteps echoed through the stillness of the corridor, and as they walked she wondered what was behind most of the other plain doors she had seen on their way. She guessed that some of them would belong to the various Akatsuki members, and perhaps they ad others that acted as storerooms.

After a few minutes they came to a halt outside a solid wooden door, that Tenten noticed had a long burn mark down one side. Probably from Deidara testing a new explosive technique, Tenten supposed.

The blonde shinobi unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping inside before turning and allowing Tenten to come in. The kunoichi looked around her in interest as she made her way inside. Deidara's room wasn't very large, but a comfortable size. There was a plain single bed up against the far wall and that was it as far as furniture went, other than some shelves that adorned the walls.

Tenten looked up to see that the room had a very high ceiling, and that the plain shelves carried on right until the top. On these stood an array of Deidara's various explosives. No two were the same, all made from his detonating clay. Tenten thought that this must be where he stored various prototypes.

Deidara followed her gaze, looking at the models with a critical eye. He didn't like keeping his art in this state; it was after all, designed to explode in its true artistic fashion. However, he kept these as emergency back ups incase the base ever fell under attack and he was separated from his clay supplies.

His attention swayed back to the kunoichi.

"So where are you planning to sleep? I for one will not sleep on the floor, hm." Deidara said, smirking at her once more, leaning towards her.

Tenten remained silent, looking up at him until he was barely inches away. Suddenly, she smiled graciously.

"Actually, I was planning on something else." She explained before crossing the room to his bed before he could react and puling off the duvet and pillows.

Tenten was at the open door to the room in second as Deidara began to move forward, her intentions sinking in. His eyes narrowed as he realised he had been tricked.

"You get back here with those dammit or I'll kill you!" he growled.

"No can do." Replied Tenten with a grin as she vanished down the corridor.

Deidara clenched his fists and ran after her, cursing like Hidan.

Tenten's eyes now became serious as she concentrated on the doors she passed. Eventually she saw what she was looking for. This door was paler at the edges and the grain of the wood had expanded slightly with the presence of water. Praying her hunch was correct, she opened the door, still clutching Deidara's pillow and duvet under one arm. She grinned. She had been right.

Hearing Deidara's oncoming footsteps, and his furious voice, she turned and shut herself inside the bathroom, locking the door from the inside.

"Heh, a lock won't stop me, I'll blow the bloody door off!"

"Uhuh, I wouldn't advise it, I've set up a trap inside. You'll be skewered left right and centre as soon as you step inside this room."

"You're bluffing!"

"Try me."

Deidara snarled with frustration as he stood outside the door, feeling like an idiot. On one hand, he could risk it and blow the door up. Then again, he could use an explosive that would undoubtedly blow up whatever counter measures she had put up inside. However, he knew that Kakuzu wouldn't be too happy with another blown up door, or having half the bathroom destroyed for that matter.

He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. He consigned defeat and strode furiously back up the corridor to his room, collapsing onto the bed, fuming. He had to admit she had won this particular battle, but she wouldn't win the war.

"Oh, and tell the others not to try and come in here unless they want to be turned into a human pin-cushion!" yelled Tenten as she heard Deidara walk away.

The kunoichi smirked to herself, leased that her ingenious plan ad worked. She decided that it would probably be wise if she actually did set up a trap in the doorway, just in case. Removing a scroll from her bag, she set up a complicated trap of trip wires, exploding tags, shuriken and kunai that looked like a spider's web surrounding the doorway. She stepped back to admire her handiwork.

If anyone tried to gain entry, the numerous trip-wires and hidden trip-wires would detect the enemy and cause the small exploding tags to go off, blinding the enemy with smoke from their explosions. In that time, the large kunai and shuriken would shoot at the intruder each with trailing wires that would wrap around the enemy from both sides to immobilise them, before a pair of katana sliced in a cross motion where their head would be. In any case, even if the trap failed to trick the enemy, the noise would almost definitely wake Tenten up.

With a sigh the kunoichi look away from her trap at the bathroom that was to serve as her temporary accommodation.

It was very plain, with a wooden floor like all of the rooms and blank white tiles on the walls. There was one shower, one toilet, one sink and a bathtub in the room, and Tenten was surprised to see that they were all very clean.

However, the kunoichi was too tired to question this and padded over to the bathtub, throwing Deidara's pillow at one end and climbing into it, wrapping the duvet around herself, still wearing her clothes from the day.

It was by no means comfortable, but better than sleeping on the bare wooden floor, and although she tried to resist it, she soon fell asleep, the pain on her wounded shoulder still throbbing slightly.

Luckily, the night remained quiet and no-one tried to get into the bathroom. Tenten slept silently, but tossed and turned in a dreamless sleep until she sat bolt upright, her eyes snapping open. Having no concept of time in the hidden Akatsuki base, she guessed her inbuilt natural clock had woken her up in keeping with when she had always awoken each morning back at home in Konoha to report for her duties.

She stood up and stretched, sighing as she looked at her dishevelled appearance; her clothes with dark burn marks from her fight, the slash in the shoulder of her shirt from where Sasori had stabbed her two days before.

Tenten dismantled her trap carefully, checking each individual weapon before storing it in her bag or in scrolls. She hoped that she would get her own room today and not have to go through the palaver again.

She stepped out into the corridor, clothing the bathroom door behind her, and immediately jumped in surprise. Konan had been waiting for her. The blue-haired Rain Village kunoichi looked at Tenten without disclosing whatever she was thinking. Konan then held out a dark bundle to Tenten, who accepted it cautiously.

"Here are your robes, and also some new clothes for you. I had to guess your size, but I'm confident they'll fit. I suggest you change into them and head to the kitchen for breakfast before your first mission briefing, during which you'll be assigned your cell members." She explained.

Konan turned and walked away down the corridor, disappearing around a corner. Had it been she who had told the others not to go into the bathroom that night? Tenten thought it was unlikely. She retreated back inside the bathroom, and laid out Konan had brought for her. There was, of course, the Akatsuki cloak, adorned with those striking scarlet clouds. There was also a pair of trousers similar to her current dark burgundy ones, but instead they were slate blue, with the strength tight white stockings that when underneath and a white belt that had various pockets attached for her scrolls and weapons. As well as this, there was a pair of black open toed boots, more feminine than the ones the others wore, but not as long and slender as Konan's.

Lastly, she saw a shirt like her own, except the neck was slightly lower and the top was looser fitting and dark blue, with black tags that fastened the shirt. Underneath was a tighter short-sleeved top that was paler blue. Tenten found herself thinking that she rather liked the outfit.

With a sigh, she quickly dressed in the new clothes, pleased that they seemed to fit at least as well as her old ones. As she fastened the last button on her Akatsuki cloak, she turned and saw herself in the bathroom mirror, suddenly struck with how natural the criminal's uniform seemed to look on her.

Tenten shook her head, clearing out the last vestiges of sleepiness before walking out into the hallway. It took some time before she once more found the kitchen, but she was flushed with pride at actually having found it in the first place.

She pushed open the door and slipped inside, but was immediately met with a bright orange mask.

"Good morning, Tenten!" said Tobi as Tenten back away in shock.

"Uh, good morning Tobi." Tenten replied.

She crossed the kitchen quickly, trying to cover up her surprise before she opened the cupboard door to see if there was any edible breakfast in there. Luckily, the cupboard was devoid of human limbs and she drew out an old looking box of cereal.

With a sigh she sat down at the round wooden table, realising how hungry she was.

"Heh, I heard about what happened last night with Deidara." Came an arrogant voice from the other side of the room.

Hidan stepped out of the shadows, holding a piece of bread in one hand and bacon in the other. For some reason, the sight of an s-ranked criminal eating his breakfast was one of the weirdest things she had ever seen in her life.

"_Nothing _happened last night with Deidara, other than if you mean my threatening to slice his head off." Tenten retorted defensively.

She looked down at the bland contents of her bowl, shovelling cereal onto her spoon and wolfing it down as if she had never eaten before in her life.

"Yeah, that's what I meant. Hah, I wish I could have been there, it'd be hilarious to see that stuck up prat get humiliated for once."

"Well, as long as he doesn't try anything again, there won't be a need for it." Growled Tenten in a voice that told Hidan plainly that the same would go for him as well.

At that moment, the door swung open once more and a tall raven-haired Akatsuki member entered the kitchen. His crimson eyes swept the room with his emotionless expression before resting on the brunette kunoichi.

"Tenten, Leader has summoned you for your first mission briefing. I suggest you follow me right away." Itachi said.


	6. Clipped Wings

**Chapter six, at last!**

**I'm so sorry it took so long to upload this; something went weird with the 'edit story' thing and it wouldn't let me post new chapters. However, I know what to do now and if anyone has the same problem PM me and I'll tell you what to do!**

**Anyway, enjoy, and I do not own Naruto!**

Tenten looked up, her face momentarily aught with surprise. A mission? This soon after she first joined Akatsuki? She sighed and stood up, swallowing her last mouthful of cereal as she pushed the bowl aside. Crossing to the doorway, she cast a brief glance at Hidan and Tobi before following Itachi out into the corridor. Her long cloak swished around her ankles, surprisingly light and comfortable as she walked.

"Do you have any idea of what this mission might be about?" she asked Itachi, looking up at that pale expressionless face.

The crimson eyes momentarily flickered in her direction before he gazed straight ahead again, betraying no emotion whatsoever.

"I do not. I merely came to summon you and take you to Leader." The Uchiha replied.

Tenten crossed her arms as she walked, looking away from the raven haired shinobi and back down the dark corridor pensively. So that was Itachi Uchiha, the man who had murdered his entire clan except for his little brother Sasuke, who had then gone rogue as a result of his bitter and twisted hatred for his older sibling. Tenten decided that on first impression, she didn't like Itachi all that much.

After a further few minutes, they halted outside the wooden door that lead into the Leader's office, or quarters, or whatever they were; the room was so dark and sparsely furnished it was hard to tell.

The hazily projected figure of the Akatsuki Leader stood at the far end of the room, much like he had done the first time that Tenten had laid eyes on him. Itachi nodded at him and left the room, his footsteps echoing up the silent corridor as he disappeared.

The pair of ghostly eyes turned and fixed themselves on Tenten, those strange ripple-like patterns piercing right through her. Tenten shifted uncomfortably but refused o be intimiated.

"Weren't you going to give me my first mission?" She asked, wondering what the delay was about, or whether it was just for dramatic effect.

"I'm afraid your partners for the mission I am to assign you are late, it appears." The Leader intoned in such a way that suggested if Tenten dared speak again without being spoken too, she would be vaporized on the spot.

Tenten sighed and sat down on the plain wooden chair that sat along with several others in front of the Leader's desk. She wondered who it could be that she was teamed up with. She turned and looked at the door as it swung open with a creak to reveal a tall figure in a bright orange mask.

"Sorry Leader! Itachi didn't give me the message." He said in that ridiculously annoying voice that reminded Tenten of child having been scolded.

Tobi stepped into the room and stood a couple of feet away from Tenten. She found it incredibly frustrating that she couldn't see under that mask; couldn't see his expression or his face. It made her feel nervous.

"Now we are only lacking the last member of your team." Leader said in that flat, emotionless voice.

Tenten sighed. Whoever this last member was, they had better hurry up; she was getting impatient.

After five minutes of silence in the room, the dim light throwing the shadows into sharp relief, a knock came on the door.

Tenten looked around and her eyes narrowed in surprise and anger as Deidara entered the room. She couldn't help but smile however, at the bags under those cerulean eyes that suggested he had slept badly.

"A little cold for you last night?" she said sarcastically, crossing her arms.

Deidara scowled at her and looked away at the hazy figure of the Akatsuki Leader.

"Enough, Tenten," he said, "now that you are all here I will explain why I have chosen to put you together as a team for now. Tenten, your strength lies in stealth, and your techniques are simple and subtle, if a little predictable. You can learn from Deidara and Tobi to vary your attacks and make your movements more confusing to the enemy."

Tenten frowned but remained quite.

"Deidara…you always make a circus of your battles, and they always attract too much attention. Learn from Tenten here to be more subtle and efficient in the way you operate."

Deidara scowled and crossed his arms.

"And Tobi, I chose you to accompany them on this mission so that you can report back to us here using your teleportation technique to inform us on how our new member is doing."

He looked at the three of them, those bottomless eyes almost glowing.

"Oh…and if our new member here tries to betray us or escape in any way…kill her immediately." Leader said.

Deidara grinned, his eyes narrowing.

"Of course." He replied.

"This mission, after all, requires stealth and cunning as well as brute strength, which is another reason I have chosen you three. The likes of Kisame or Hidan would attract far too much attention; they prefer to main and slaughter first, think later." Leader continued.

"Sir, what does this mission actually entail?" Deidara asked. Tenten could tell he was getting bored already.

"We need you to sabotage an operation in Orochimaru's hide-out. We believe he has devised the means to work out the impure-world-resurrection summoning. It is vital he does not complete this forbidden jutsu, or it will vastly aid him if he is ever to stage an attack on Akatsuki." Replied Leader calmly.

Tenten looked at him curiously. She had heard that Orochimaru had once been a member of Akatsuki, but had left under certain circumstanced and was no longer loyal to the orginistaion.

"We have located the base of this experiment to be located on a secluded island near the land of water. Intel suggests that many people from around the surrounding area have been going missing, probably to act as vessels for this technique." Came a serious voice from the Leader's Side.

Tenten jumped in surprise. It was Konan who had spoken. How long had she been standing there? The blue haired kunoichi shared that expressionless face of her partner next to her.

"We have the co-ordinates of the location in this document. These papers are confidential so do not misplace them." She continued.

Deidara took the thin file from her and glanced through it before nodded disinterestedly.

"We need you to get inside the hide-out, and destroy whatever experiments he is working on there. The likelihood is that he will just begin these experiments again, but it will buy us more time to plan our attack on him. He knows too much that could harm the organization and must be disposed of at some point or other." Konan said, closing her blue eyes.

"If this is a destroy-the-base type mission, why not send Kisame or Hidan, or even Kakuzu? Or Sasori?" Deidara asked absently.

"The hardest part of this mission will be infiltrating the base unseen. If they find you, they will kill you and since his workings are so shrouded in secrecy we do not have an accurate picture of his strength. We don't need to lose any more members at a time like this. Hidan, Kakuzu and Kisame tend to get carried away when dealing with the enemy, even more so than you. As for Sasori, he has been partnered with Orochimaru in the past, so the enemy would probably be able or predict and anticipate his attacks." Leader explained.

"Fine, fine…I'll need some time to gather my clay supplies." Deidara sighed, giving Tenten the impression that he just anted to get out of this dark room and get the mission over with.

"And I'll need a little time to make sure my weapons are all in working order." Tenten added.

"Very well. We expect you leave tonight. This mission could take a long time, so make sure you leave prepared." Leader said before turning, those bright lights of eyes extinguished as his hologram flickered and disappeared.

Deidara led the way out of the room, and looked over his shoulder to Tenten before saying: 

"We'll meet at the back entrance at noon. Hey, don't slow us up, hmm?" before he was off down the corridor to his room.

Tenten crossed her arms and ignored him, instead retracing her steps from the Leader's office to the door that led outside, to the back exit of the Akatsuki base. She smiled with relief as she realised she had indeed chosen the right path, finally swinging open the unobtrusive wooden door to the harsh morning light outside.

Shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness, she stepped out into the sunlight and walked across the earthy clearing. The ground was torn up everywhere from her battle with Deidara, she could see the crater that had formed from one of his explosions. She reached the other side and sat down with her back against a tree, taking out her weapons from various scrolls and sharpening and polishing them in turn.

She sighed as she wondered why in this solitary moment she didn't try to escape. She then thought about the cold shoulder her village had given her since birth and shook the thoughts of escape out of her head. And anyway, technically speaking, sabotaging Orochimaru's experiments couldn't be a bad thing.

Finally happy with her array of blades and other weapons after a few hours of careful maintenance, she restored them to their respective scrolls and stood up, massaging her aching back. She stretched and took out some food she had stored in her bag from the Akatsuki kitchen. Some dried meat didn't exactly make a gourmet lunch, but it served its purpose along with a couple of slices of bread.

After having eaten the meagre meal, she crossed the clearing, back to the entrance to the Akatsuki base. She leant against the wall of the imposing cliff face that the wall was set into and waited for the others. After a few minutes, she heard footsteps along the corridor behind the door, and looked around.

Deidara pushed open the door and stepped out blinking into the sunlight.

"Took you long enough." Tenten observed dryly, her eyes lazily arrogant.

"Heh, so you didn't try and escape. Damn, guess that means I lost my bet with Kakuzu."

"What are you talking about?"

"I bet with him that you'd scarper away from here with your tail between your legs at the first opportunity we gave you."

"How dare you assume I -"

"Of course, it was just another of Leader's tests hmmm? To see whether you'd try and escape."

Tenten scowled darkly.

"I see…" She growled.

"Anyway, enough of that, hmm? We have our mission to attend to." Deidara continued.

"Yes, but where is Tobi?" Tenten asked.

"Oh, goofing around I expect. A shame he has to come really, I was hoping this would just turn out to be you and me." Deidara sighed, grinning at the brunette kunoichi.

"Let me get this straight, Deidara." Tenten said in a low voice that dripped with danger, "If you try anything, I'll rip off you smug head and feed it to Zetsu! I promise that I'll make your life living hell for however long this stupid mission is going to last."

"Now now, Tenten. You forget we have to learn to work together and learn from each other if this mission is to be a success, hmm?"

The two was glowering at each other as Tobi emerged from the back door.

"Whoa, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you two were having a private conversation!" He said, putting his hands up defensively.

"Shut _up _Tobi." Snarled Tenten and Deidara at the same time.

The three of them shared an awkward silence for a little while, before Tenten sighed.

"Look, we ought to leave so that we can cover a decent amount of ground before nightfall so we can get our bearings and come up with a plan on how we are going to infiltrate Orochimaru's lair."

"I suppose that makes sense. Although, we could get there quicker if we move at night as well, hm?" Deidara replied.

"But we can't just barge in without a plan! We have to be careful in how we do this. I expect that Orochimaru has any number of subordinates under his command, some with considerable abilities if the files we had in Konoha we correct." Tenten said exasperatedly.

"Whatever, fine, we'll go partway and stop to come up with our preparations then. Are you happy now?" Deidara said as she crossed his arms.

"Yes. I'm pleased to see you appear to have at least some sense." Tenten replied.

Deidara smirked as he reached into the bag tied o his belt.

"However, if we are going to follow through with this procedure, we travel my way, hmm?" The blonde shinobi said, withdrawing his clenched fists.

"What do you m-" Began Tenten before she leapt backwards in surprise.

Three huge birds erupted into existence in front of them. They were different to the designs Tenten had already seen; these had long necks and broader wings. She was loath to admit they were actually quite _artistic_. Deidara grinned and leapt atop the nearest one, Tobi following suit with the second. The clay birds looked at Tenten with those empty holes for eyes, and Tenten clenched her teeth.

"You expect me to ride one of those things?" She asked.

"Thing? How dare you, hmm? You have no appreciation of true art!" Deidara replied, "Besides, you have to admit this is the most efficient and fast way to travel, is it not?"

Tenten growled, but had to admit the blonde shinobi was right. She placed her hand onto the third clay bird and lifted herself up onto its back, gripping the area between its wings and its neck tightly with her legs.

"Just hold onto the neck and you shouldn't fall off." Deidara called to her as his bird opened its wings, beginning its ascent into the sky.

"Shouldn't?" Tenten asked.

Deidara laughed as he rose into the air, not even sitting on his bird but was standing up, the wind ruffling his lengths of golden blonde hair. His face looked so alive and exhilarated; it seemed to have lost all of its malevolence for a moment. Tenten found that she was blushing ever so slightly, but had no time to think before her own bird was flapping its great wings and rising to join Deidara's and Tobi's.

The kunoichi looked ahead, holding on tightly, wondering if every moment of this mission would turn out to be as exiting as this.


	7. Frozen Sky

**And now, chapter seven.**

**Hopefully, Tenten and Deidara will start to get together soon, with any luck! I had my record amount of views yesterday so thank you to everyone who reads this story, I'm so grateful!**

**Anyway, back to the story:**

**I do not own Naruto!**

The cold air whistled past Tenten's ears as the sky flew past her. Her eyes were shut tight and she was holding onto the clay bird's neck for dear life. Her hair and the long Akatsuki robes ruffled in the wind, the consistent rising and falling of the bird's wings beside her becoming a steady rhythm in her head.

They had been airborne for the last few hours or so, and the constant low temperatures were starting to numb her fingers and toes. She sighed. At least this Akatsuki cloak kept the wearer reasonably warm.

Tenten looked up from here she had been facing into the neck of the bird to stop the wind stinging her eyes and face. She shook her head and smiled as she watched Deidara. The blonde shinobi was standing up on top of the bird he was riding, not even looking the slightest bit anxious about falling. His long hair blew around in the breeze, revealing that strange camera like eye piece that was usually hidden under his long blonde fringe.

"You enjoy it more if you stand up like this." He commented, looking around at her.

Tenten blushed and narrowed her eyes. Evidently he had been aware of her watching him.

"No, thank you. I'm quite comfortable just the way I am." Tenten replied angrily.

"Well," Deidara said as his own bird dropped back so it was level with hers, "If you change you mind I can always give you a few lessons, hmm?"

Tenten give him a murderous look and swiped her fist at him. The blonde wheeled away with a laugh, his mount banking to the side and soaring in a wide arc around Tenten's. The kunoichi yelped as she started to lose her balance having only one arm remaining to hold onto the bird, and flapped frantically as she felt her weight slide from its back.

Suddenly, a strong hand was clasped around her forearm and she was supported, one hand clasping her bird's neck, her other arm in Deidara's tight grip. He smirked arrogantly at her as he pushed her back onto its back steadily and she regained her tight hold on her mount.

"You really aren't very good at this, hmm?" He remarked with a sigh.

"Shut up! I've never exactly done this before." She replied hotly.

She looked forward again, away from Deidara's taunting face. Her cheeks felt hot and she knew as she cursed herself that her cheeks were an even deeper red than before. That stupid idiot may have just saved her from a long fall, but that didn't mean a thing. He was still a stuck-up fool.

"Don't worry Tenten," came Tobi's bright voice from where he sat on his bird, about ten to twenty feet away from hers, "I fell off a few times when I first started riding them…although most of the time senpai didn't catch me…"

Tenten couldn't help but smile at this as she imagined what it must have been like.

Buy now, the land that they had left behind was far way in the distance, not even visible any more. On foot, this journey would have taken more than a day, definitely, and yet in the air they had been going little over several hours.

She lifted her gaze to the horizon ahead. The sun was sinking behind the distant mountains that bordered this particular country, reflecting off of the snowy peaks. The bright whiteness of them contrasted so much with the beige and dull green of the mountain slopes that then bled into the richer green of the forests. She sighed, lost in thought over the snow on those heights, never melting, even when the sun's warmth shone upon them. Never trusting or warming to others. Never letting anyone else know the true self that she hid under the layers of masks she wore.

"Deidara, it will be night soon and these large white shapes will be easily noticeable in the night sky." Tenten pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, you're right. I suppose we have no choice but to land for the night." The blonde shinobi replied reluctantly.

Tenten resisted the urge to squeak with surprise as the bird that was carrying her took a sudden dip and began to dive towards the ground. Below them, the densely wooded forest stretched out in a sea of olive green. She clenched her teeth as the air rushed past her face faster and faster, her robes billowing out behind her as her descent became even faster.

Every second she was able to see more and more detail in the trees below as they came closer and closer, rushing up to meet them at an alarming pace.

"You idiot you're going to kill us!" Tenten yelled at Deidara hysterically.

Deidara laughed loudly, enjoying her discomfort and frustration, letting the moment drag out. The wind was roaring past them now, she could hear little else apart from it screaming in her ears.

Suddenly, Tenten found herself surrounded in a dense could of thick pale smoke, as the bird that had been carrying her to her doom exploded, but without the pyrotechnics. She then panicked, finding that without the bird, she was free-falling towards the rapidly approaching ground. However, she didn't shout or scream, refusing to show weakness even though she was terrified.

She narrowed her eyes. Had it been Deidara's plan all along to kill her here? Had this whole mission been a sham so that the Akatsuki could dispose of her after all? She couldn't tell where the blonde shinobi had got to due to the swirling smoke that was at last starting to clear around her.

However, this was the least of her worries as she could now plainly see the tips of the trees directly underneath her. She was falling too fast! She was going to hit the ground and die then and there. Twigs and branches whipped past her face, scratching at her skin and hair and clothes. She didn't have enough time to prepare chakra strings or wires so she could attach them to a branch and save herself, it was too late.

Just as she was about to hit the ground beneath, the wind was knocked out of her as a pair of strong arms gripped her under her knees and around her waist. She gasped for breath, coughing violently and shaking as she looked up into the eyes of the one who had saved her life and was holding her close to their chest.

"You know, you're pretty light for such a fighter as yourself, hmm?"

Deidara's cerulean blue orbs reflected her white face back at her, creasing in amusement, those thin lips tilted slightly in a smile. Her face immediately flushed a deep crimson. She winced and shuddered. She could even feel those disgusting mouths in his hands!

"DEIDARA YOU SON OF A –"

"Hey, is that any way to thank me for saving your life?" He asked innocently, but not putting her down.

"If you don't release me this instant, you'll be the one in need of some one to save your life!" Tenten snarled, her scarlet face contorted in fury.

"Aaw, but where would be the fun in that?" He teased.

Tenten struggled and kicked in his arms, and eventually he sighed and dropped her to the ground. The Kunoichi winced in pain as she stood up muttering darkly to herself. She looked around at the clearing that they had 'landed' in. It was small, only ten or so metres across, but most importantly it was hemmed in on all sides by towering pine trees that seemed to soak up the diminishing light like a sponge; it was semi-dark down on the forest floor.

Tobi came wandering up to Deidara and Tenten from behind a tree to their left, causing Tenten to jump and her hands to fly to her scrolls and weapons.

"Whoa, easy!" He said, "I was just checking for any enemy shinobi, but we appear to be in the clear for the moment."

Tenten looked at him, suddenly realising that in this instance, enemy shinobi also countered her own old comrades, the leaf-village ninja she had once treated as her family and close friends.

With a sigh, the kunoichi removed her bag from her hip hidden beneath her robes and pulled out a small sleeping mat for herself. She unrolled it and lay it upon the forest floor before straightening up and looking around the darkening forest.

"I'll set some traps; just incase we get any unwelcome visitors during the night. After all, at our current location, we must be pretty close to Orochimaru's lair shouldn't we? Therefore it only makes sense that he will have ninja under his command in the surrounding area." Tenten observed as she constructed a delicate and almost invisible network of wires and chakra strings around the edge of the clearing connected to kunai and senbon that she camouflaged in the undergrowth.

Deidara looked at her approvingly, as if he was judging a piece of artwork. She sure was quite a tactician when it got down to it, and definitely had quite the sharp mind.

Tenten sighed when her work was done, examining her intricate trap with a critical eye.

"There, that should be sufficient. At least if it fails to turn them into a pin-cushion, it will certainly wake us up. Even so, I suggest we take turns acting as watch." She suggested, looking at Tobi since she refused to even meet the blonde's eyes after that embarrassing incident several minutes ago.

Tobi was already asleep on the ground.

"Grrr, you good for nothing…" Tenten hissed under her breath as the masked Akatsuki member snored loudly.

"Hey, I'll take first watch, hm?" Deidara said after a while.

Tenten brought herself to look at him, her eyes suspicious but showing a possible hint of gratitude.

"Thank you, Deidara…but don't think this makes up for earlier." She said.

"Of course…" The blonde sighed, rolling his eyes as he sat down heavily onto the bare earth of the forest floor.

"In the morning, we'll eat and come up with a strategy for infiltrating Orochimaru's base, hmm?" Deidara said.

"Yes, I agree. That would give us the most suitable amount of time to stage our sabotage mission." Tenten replied.

Tenten sighed and lay down on her sleeping mat, pulling her Akatsuki cloak tightly around her body to keep in the heat. Much like that time she had been taken out by Sasori a few days ago, this night was cold and she hoped it wouldn't start to rain as she hadn't had any room to pack a tent. That night seemed like a world away from her now, deep in the recesses of a memory that belonged to some else, to someone who was still loyal to her comrades. Tenten shook the though out of her head quickly. Perhaps she may have remained loyal to her comrades if they had been loyal to her, but no. She regretted nothing.

She tried to keep her dark eyes open, resisting the pull of sleep as much as she could. However, within a few minutes her own soft breathing mingled with the sound of Tobi's as she drifted into sleep's warm arms.

Deidara sighed as he looked around at the brunette kunoichi sleeping peacefully behind him. He had to admit, as much as he hated it, that she was actually quite good-looking. Not only that, she had real courage and determination as well as no fear of the rest of the Akatsuki. She was a truly unusual girl.

He found his thoughts drifting into how _artistic _she looked when fighting, her lightness and her lithe figure that so efficiently dispatched the enemy. Still, she had scarred his pride which was something he could not forgive. He smirked and turned away from her. She couldn't have looked more different when she was asleep; so peaceful and…cute, to be honest.

The blonde shinobi leant against a tree lazily as the minutes passed silently by, staring off into the black depths of the forest that surrounded them on every side. Attack could come from anywhere at any time, so they had to be prepared.

Idly, Deidara reached into one of the bags that were tied to his belt, and drew out a small amount of detonating clay. He smiled as he kneaded it into shape, a long necked bird with slender legs and long pointed winds. Then, he squashed the small figurine back into a ball and started again, passing the time in the silent forest.

Tenten awoke slowly; her heavily lidded eyes blinking back the vestiges of sleep that threatened to overcome her again. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes with the back of one hand. A light mist had crept through the woods, reducing all colours into a ghostly pale state that seemed ethereal.

"Hey Tenten, it's your turn to be on watch duty, hm?" Deidara said softly.

The kunoichi nodded sleepily and stretched, shivering with the cold as goose bumps rose up on her bare arms. She hastily put her cloak back on and wrapped it tightly around herself.

"Its a few hours past midnight, so if you don't mind I'll be getting a bit of sleep now. Can I use your sleeping mat?" Deidara asked.

"Huh…? Oh yeah. Hang on, it's what? How long have you been on watch? You should have woken me sooner!" Tenten said in surprise.

"Oh be quiet, kunoichi, hm?" Deidara yawned as he lay down on his back where she had been sleeping as she moved over to lean against a nearby tree to take her watch.

Tenten sighed, shaking her head at Deidara. If he wanted to impress her with his stamina, he was not going the right way about it. He was just going to make her worry; not because she had any true concern for him, but because if he was tired and not up to his usual abilities it would affect the mission as a whole. Even so, his actions made her smile slightly. After a while, his slow breathing blended into the sounds of Tobi's snoring and the faint rustle of the leaves every now and again. In a few hours it would be dawn and the forest would be filled with the sound of the animals waking to the new day.

She rested her chin on her knees, watching Deidara's features absent-mindedly, a lock of hair falling back over his usually covered eye and onto the ground by his cheek. Tenten looked up at the dark sky, the faintest traced of that strange translucent grey that heralded dawn beginning to appear.

Soon, it would be time to begin their mission in earnest, but right now in the quiet and calm in the forest clearing, she just wanted to sit back and enjoy the peace while it lasted.


	8. Towards the Dragon

**Chapter eight here.**

**With any luck, Tenten might start to see beyond Dei's arrogance soon…then again…maybe not. I might write some comedy one-shots in the future about Tenten in the Akatsuki, once this story is a little further underway. Please could people PM me some ideas or prompts for these? That would be great!**

**I do not own Naruto or its characters, but I hope to own some more reviews soon!**

* * *

Dawn had fallen and the sky was now fully light as Deidara opened his eyes. He sat up, rubbing his neck as he had gone to sleep leaning on his left side making it extremely stiff and sore. The cries of several birds nesting on one of the tall trees that surrounded them filled the air, and as he looked up he saw Tenten quickly packing up the network of the trap she had laid the previous night.

The brunette kunoichi looked around at him with those dark brown eyes, and once she had finished disarming her trap, padded over to him.

"Come on, I need to pack up the sleeping mat." She said matter-of-factly, motioning for Deidara to move off of it.

He nodded sleepily and stood up; taking a few paces away as he watched her folded the mat and store it in the bag beneath her long robes. Her face had a drawn quality to it, as if something was on her mind. He then looked up and saw it was just the two of them in the clearing.

"Hey, where's Tobi, hm?" Deidara asked as he looked around for their masked team-mate.

"Oh, he left a few minutes ago. He used his teleportation jutsu to go and report to leader." Tenten explained

"I see." Deidara replied absent-mindedly.

Tenten nodded and walked around the length of the clearing, checking that she had not left anything behind that might alert any enemies that might be tracking them. She moved quickly and efficiently, checking each area once before moving onto the next, and when she was finished, she turned and strode back into the centre of the clearing.

Deidara approached her.

"Is something wrong, hmm?" He asked, having read her movements and deduced that something had her worried.

When she didn't reply and walked past him he extended a hand and gripped her shoulder tightly to stop her avoiding him. He pulled her closer to him and stared down at her with his piercing azure eyes.

"I said, is something wrong?" He repeated.

Tenten wrenched her shoulder away from him, turning to glare at Deidara with venom.

"Get those disgusting hands or whatever they are away from me." She hissed.

Deidara smirked, pulling his hand away, the tongue from the mouth in the hand in question running over its lips. He crossed his arms and mirrored her glare.

"You know you like it really, hm? Now tell me what's bothering you, or I'll make you." He said.

Tenten sighed in frustration and sat down cross-legged on the ground a little way from him, tearing at handfuls of grass absent-mindedly. Deidara rolled his eyes and walked over to her, sitting beside her and looking at her face expectantly.

"Last night, while you were asleep and I was on watch duty, a couple of sound village thugs ran into my trap." She explained.

"What? You mean Orochimaru's subordinates? But how come I didn't hear a thing, hm?" Deidara asked a momentary look of surprise on his face.

"Well, that just shows my trap-setting abilities. They were both dead before they could scream. In fact, I'd say your observation skills in the early morning need working on." She commented as she motioned behind her to a dark red stain on grass.

Deidara glowered at her.

"Anyway, the reason it bugs me is that, alright, those two weren't bright or powerful as they were taken down instantly, but the fact that Orochimaru is sending out subordinates this far out from his base must mean that he is suspicious of attack. Am I right?" Tenten explained.

Deidara nodded; he could see where this was going.

"Therefore, this mission has just become one hell of a lot harder. We're going to have to infiltrate Orochimaru's lair without him noticing even though he's being overcautious. Now, I have a few ideas, but I'll run them past you to see what you think." She said.

"As a matter of fact, I do as well, hmm? But let's hear yours first." He replied.

Tenten sighed and closed her eyes.

"Firstly, I think we ought to split up. Orochimaru knows that Akatsuki work in pairs or more, so he'll on the look out for any more than one person's chakra patterns at a time. Also, Out of the two of us, I expect he has the least intel on me. After all, my own village barely paid any attention to me, so why should he be any the wiser? Therefore, I suggest that I should be the one to break into his lair, and locate wherever it is that he's developing the 'Impure World Resurrection' jutsu or whatever it's called."

Deidara motioned for her to continue.

"Then, whilst I am doing this, I need you to create a large enough distraction outside to draw away the attention from me. However, you must make it seem like you are trying to get into the base and not cause a distraction or he will get even more suspicious. Use your art however you want, just make sure you create a large enough disturbance."

Deidara held up a hand suddenly.

"What is it?" Tenten asked.

"You called it art." He replied.

"Well that's what you call it isn't it?"

"Yes but, you're the first person other than myself to call it that, hm? So, you agree with my perspective of artistic perfection?"

"Uh…I don't know…I've never really thought about art much myself, but now you mention it, I guess that my art is my weapons…but that isn't important. What we need to do is perfect the plan so that we can get in and then out of Orochimaru's hideout having completed our goal and still be alive."

Deidara nodded, knowing that he was getting side-tracked.

"Now, Leader gave us a rough blue-print of the enemy's hide-out. It's not ideal but since we don't have time to stake out the base for ourselves it will have to do." Tenten continued.

She reached into her bag once more and withdrew a thin roll of paper before smoothing it out before her on the forest floor. She pointed to a route that looked a drainage tunnel.

"Now, we know from experience that Orochimaru partakes in a many different experiments, almost all of them forbidden, I expect. Therefore, it is likely that this drainage tunnel here is where the waste chemicals are left to flow out into the surrounding lands."

"Yes, but surely the fumes from these forbidden chemicals will be highly toxic, hmm?" Deidara asked, smiling to himself.

"That is a possibility. As a result, I have brought along with me…this."

Tenten turned, and took out a face mask similar in design to the ones worn in the hidden-rain village.

"I hope I won't have to use it, but it's a necessary precaution." She explained.

Deidara smirked and shook his head. Although he would never admit it, he had to confess that this girl had surely come up with the solution to every eventuality. It was quite impressive really.

"So I assume that I'll meet you at the mouth of this pipe then? Once I've made a decent amount of chaos and confusion at the main base?" He asked.

"No. If Orochimaru guesses what's going on and where I am, you will also be in danger. He may have prepared an ambush by the time I reach the exit, and we can expect the subordinates that he posts to be very adept ninjas. No. I need you to wait for me in the forest cover here." Tenten replied.

She pointed to a blank area a little way from the base.

"But that would mean that you would surely be killed, hmmm?" Deidara asked, smiling at her again.

"Yes. However, as has been demonstrated by out battle, you are of more worth to Akatsuki than I. Also, I am far stealthier and considered than you, not to mention smaller. I am far more suited to the job of infiltration than you. Even if I am killed, if I don't turn up at the meeting point by mid morning tomorrow, I want you to leave. The chances are that I will have succeeded in the mission and sabotaged Orochimaru's operation, and that he has headed me off at the exit." She replied.

Deidara frowned in response to her second remark, but seemed quite surprised at her lack of anxiety of such a dangerous prospect of being ambushed by Orochimaru. Tenten looked at him smoothly.

"I can tell what you're thinking…you're wondering why I am so prepared to die. I'm a kunoichi, duty bound to Akatsuki now I've sworn my allegiance to it. There is no escaping this task and I will succeed, I have no choice. If I fail here, isn't leader sure to decide I am of no worth after all, and dispose of me?"

Deidara sighed.

"If you say so, but this plan still seems too dangerous for a…" He began, and then trailed off.

"Go on, say it."

"No, it's nothing, hm?"

"You were going to say it was too dangerous for a _girl _right?"

"No, I wasn't I –"

"Oh never mind. It is irrelevant either way. I suggest we get ourselves as close as we can to Orochimaru's hide-out today, and I'll break silently inside when night falls. That will give me about twenty-four hours to complete the mission, and as long as you can cause a convincing commotion and stay out of harm's way at the same time, it should be a success. Understood?"

Deidara looked at her strangely for a second. This little kunoichi who could barely be seventeen was lecturing him and giving him orders! However, he clamped down on his anger, having to admit to himself that this plan seemed like their only reasonable option at the moment.

"Urgh…fine, whatever hm?" He replied, scowling.

Tenten nodded and stood up.

"Then I propose we get moving then." She said.

"Of course, but we can't use my clay birds as transport this time. We're too close to the enemy's lair and likely to be spotted if we use them. We'll have to travel on foot today." Deidara pointed out.

Tenten nodded, and leapt onto one of the branches of the tall pine trees that surrounded them in the clearing before setting off in the direction the Leader had told them, south-west, to where Orochimaru's lair was supposed to be. She moved in the typical way she always travelled when completing missions for her old village, the common shinobi gate of leaping from branch to branch, using chakra at the soles of her feet to increase her speed. Out of all the Leaf-Village kunoichi of her level, she had always been the fastest. However, she had been the slowest in her cell, Lee often teasing her and Neji often commenting sardonically.

She looked over her shoulder as she leapt through the air, wondering if Deidara was close behind or not. She was interested to pit her speed against his; she found herself smiling as he drew level with her, the rhythm of their feet hitting the branches falling into a steady beat.

"You move pretty quick, kunoichi, hm?" Deidara commented smirking.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" She replied before increasing the chakra flow to her feet so she sailed in huge bounds between the trees. Her long robes fluttered behind her, the red clouds rippling and furling in the wind.

Deidara narrowed his eyes as he caught up again. He was not used to travelling like this, always preferring to ride on his clay creations for transport. He looked up at her, watching her take the speed in her stride, noticing how graceful she looked. He found himself thinking that artistic splendour such as she would only be worthy of a truly artistic demise; a truly explosive death second only to his own C-0 technique. He shook these tangential thoughts from his mind, focussing instead on the mission at hand. She was drawing further away.

Refusing to allow his already damaged pride to be further bruised, he put in an extra burst off effort to catch up. She made it look so easy, but he could see that this speed was starting to affect her as well. Beads of perspiration stood out on her face. Was this really how much she wanted to surmount all others and make herself unbeatable? To the point where she physically injured herself?

Deidara found himself lost in the mess of thoughts spinning around inside his mind, and banished them, deciding instead to run over their plan in his mind before they reached their destination.

After a few hours, the pair came to a rest at a point where the forest began to become sparser, giving way instead to thread-bare plains. This area was rocky and barren, the hardy plants able to survive in the harsh environment the type that crept and sucked the life out of each other to stay alive. The sky was a dirty white colour, with translucent clouds that skittered half-heartedly across the blank canvas as if in a hurry to get away from the unforgiving surroundings.

Tenten seated herself on a patch of dry brown grass, breathing heavily as her chest rose and fell. She reached into her bag once more and drew out two small capsules. She swallowed one and offered the other to Deidara. The effect was immediate. She felt energy return to her blood and her mind wake up from its exertion induced stupor.

"Stamina pill." She said as Deidara eyed the small blue tablet with suspicion.

He sighed and took it from her, deciding that since he detected no poisons, (and having been partnered with Sasori for a while, he had the knowledge of poisons pretty well drilled into him) it was safe to consume. He then smiled as he felt his energy levels fill up once more.

"We travelled further than I thought we would…it's not even dark yet and we're pretty close." Deidara remarked.

Tenten couldn't decide whether he was complimenting her or not.

"You're correct" She replied, "If Leader's directions are accurate, we should only be a mile or so to the north-east of the base. This is where out paths diverge. I will go on ahead from here and infiltrate the base, and when I hear you start to create havoc at the main entrance I will proceed to where this blue-print says the 'Impure World Resurrection' jutsu is being worked on."

"I see, hm…" Deidara said, gazing off into the distance as the wind blew his hair across his face.

"I'm going to leave now, as it will give me more time as I overestimated out arrival time." Tenten explained.

She nodded curtly before beginning to walk away, down the hill, with the forest standing up as an imposing wall at her back, the barren plains up ahead.

Suddenly, Deidara lunged forwards and caught her arm in his hand just before she had gone very far. Tenten spun around to face him.

"Hey kunoichi" He smiled, "don't get killed out there, hmm?"

Tenten smiled back slightly, a smile that revealed nothing. She nodded once more and turned before sprinting off down the hill, her feet silent against the desolate ground as she disappeared from sight.


	9. Upon the Canvas World

**Chapter nine.**

**And so, operation infiltrate Orochimaru's hide-out is a go! Please enjoy and review this chapter! Oh, and sorry for the delay, I've been on holiday for a while but I hope to return to uploading these regularly again!**

**I do not own that wonderful franchise Naruto or its characters!**

Tenten held her long robes tightly around her light frame as she stood in a dip between a couple of the frequent hills that featured on the barren landscape. She had been moving slowly and carefully, knowing that at any moment she could be ambushed by Orochimaru's subordinates. A cruel wind was blowing in her direction, funnelled between the contours and managing to chill her substantially even through her clothes.

She was hidden between the hills in question because the lair of the snake lay only about one hundred meters away from her. Luckily, the wind was blowing into her face so if Orochimaru had any ninja hounds, they would have a tough time picking up her scent.

The building had been pretty dismally disguised, she had to admit. Then again, assuming Orochimaru already knew of the disarray the leaf village was in, he would hardly spend much effort and time cleverly disguising his base from a village that was too busy worrying about political matters to send assassins after its rogue ninjas. As Tenten thought about it, she wondered whether the Leaf Village had yet dispatched anyone to search for her.

With a sigh, she shook such tangential thoughts from her head and rose a little from her hiding place, her dark hair camouflaging perfectly with the dark gorse bush which she was peering through. The base must mostly be underground, she thought as she scrutinised it with a careful eye. A gaping hole in the face of one of the large pale grey boulders that dotted the bleak environment was the giveaway.

Tenten noticed a pair of large ninjas standing to attention outside; their eyes glazed over and blank. She shook her head in disgust. Evidently, these were ninja that Orochimaru had snatched from some other village and drugged to do his bidding. However, judging by the criss-crossed scars that covered the men's faces, this pair were no to be taken lightly.

She then looked past them, knowing that it would be suicide to charge in through this front entrance, as the sounds of fighting would almost certainly alert the enemy and more troops would be sent to deal with her. She then spotted a small plume of steam that rose from a spot on the ground a hundred meters away from the main entrance. It must have come from an air-vent or some kind of ventilation passage. Between her and it lay a narrow but steep ditch that contained the occasional dirty rainwater puddle and patches of thick mud. The kunoichi sighed; it would have to do.

Keeping close to the ground, she moved over to the side of the dip she was in that was closest to the ditch. There was a brief space of open ground between her and the ditch that she would have to get across before she was hidden again. She was just weighing up her options when a voice came from down the cavern-like opening that was the main entrance to Orochimaru's lair.

"Rōn, Heikin, there are new orders." The voice said.

Tenten watched carefully, as a third blank-faced shinobi emerged from the carven behind him. He was evidently drugged as well.

"Several chakra signatures have been detected south of here, and are heading this way. Orders are to pay extra caution incase anyone tries to break in. Reinforcements are being sent here as we speak."

Tenten furrowed her brow as she listened to the short conversation. Deidara was early, and why were there multiple chakra signatures? Of course, he could just have distributed a small amount of chakra to several clay clones, but that didn't explain his timing.

Deciding she ought to speed up if she was going to get inside before Deidara arrived, she took advantage of the guards as they momentarily turned to the messenger's direction and dived out of the dip between the hills, staying low to the ground as she crossed the short distance to the ditch.

She slid quickly into it, her feet hitting the soft and wet ground with a faint 'squitch'. She thankfully sighed to herself as the drugged guards failed to notice the small noise, and began her passage through the ditch.

It was slow work; after all, she had to keep dodging the puddles of stale rainwater and patched of dark sludgy mud. It wasn't because she was worried about getting mud on her new clothes; she couldn't have cared less about that, but it would save her having to clear muddy footprints away once she got inside the base.

Suddenly, Tenten stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening as she had to hurriedly fight her reflex to gag. A body was lying half-buried in the mud in front of her on its back, unseeing eyes staring up at her. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, forcing down her feelings of foreboding. The corpse belonged to a leaf shinobi by the looks of it; she could tell from the dull metal of the headband he wore, and the general attire. Tenten didn't know the shinobi however, and judging by the state of the body it must have been lying here a while.

This unlucky shinobi must have stumbled across Orochimaru's lair and been kidnapped for experiments, Tenten thought as she looked at the horrid pallor of the corpse's skin.

The kunoichi shook her head in disgust and hurried past it, wanting to get away from the smell and the clouds of flies. After a few more tense minutes of picking her way around pools of stagnant water and patches of foul-looking mud, she came to the end of the ditch and saw the small air-vent a few meters away.

Looking around, she checked that there were none of Orochimaru's subordinates around before she slipped over the lip of the ditch and withdrew a thin kunai.

Tenten looked carefully at the design of the vent's cover, and after some deliberation slid the tip of her kunai into the thin gap between the rim of the vent's cover and the metal frame of the opening. She twisted the kunai, and with a snap, the lid came away. Smiling at her success, and moved closer, inspecting the vent.

It appeared to be large enough for her to just squeeze inside and navigate. She was pretty sure that none of the other Akatsuki members, even Sasori or Konan, could have fitted inside. Tenten also noticed that instead of heading vertically down into the earth, the ventilation passage sloped slightly, another bonus as it would mean it would be much easier to traverse.

She sighed with resignation and with incredible dignity slipped through the narrow opening, intensely relieved that neither her shoulders nor hips had gotten stuck. It was thickly humid inside the narrow passageway, and hot too. Tenten had been deliberating on whether to don her face mask in case of toxic fumes, but the air smelled clear to her, so she decided against it is it would just end up impairing her vision.

_I wonder where Deidara is right now…_ She found herself thinking as she crawled, _it should be about time soon for him to begin the diversion._

* * *

At that moment, Deidara was in fact pacing just in front of where the woods dispersed into the barren wasteland, scuffing up the dusty earth with the end of his boot absent-mindedly.

"Surely that kunoichi is inside by now, hmm?" he murmured to himself as he turned and looked out at the direction she had disappeared.

He had to commend her stealth, as once she had disappeared out of his line of sight, it had been a tough time trying to spot her, even through the scope he wore on his left eye. After a while, she had vanished altogether.

Deidara looked up at the sun that was beginning to sink from where it had hung high up in the sky for most of the afternoon. Its warmth was beginning to fade from the already unforgiving landscape, making it seem even more of a wasteland as the shadows threw the occasional straggled shrubs into sharp relief.

With a grunt of frustration, the missing-nin crossed his arms. Unlike Sasori, he was more laid back, and didn't mind taking things at a slightly more relaxed pace. However, having been standing in the same place for several hours, he was definitely ready to start causing some havoc.

His lips twitched into a grin as he looked at the mouths on each of his palms. They both spat out small quantities of clay loaded with chakra, that he carefully and quickly moulded into several of his signature pieces. Firstly, he threw one of these into the air. After making a hand-sign, there was a crack like a gun-shot and the small figure had expanded into a huge eagle-like bird, with its white clay wings spread wide as it cast a dark shadow on the sparse earth beneath. Deidara leapt atop the transport bird and smirked, eyes narrowed as he looked at the sun's retreating figure. It was time.

* * *

Tenten was breathing quite heavily after a while of crawling through the humid ventilation passage, and was beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic in the tightly compacted space. She was also feeling apprehensive to some extent as she had heard very little movement at all, not to mention any suggestion of a place where a jutsu was been developed.

She had been making slow but steady progress through the aeration system for some while now, and she felt as if she had almost lost track of time in this maze. However, judging by the direction she had been travelling in, she must have been nearing her goal by now.

Suddenly, she saw a chink of light filling up the metal passageway ahead of her. She shuffled over to it, glad of any light source after her travels through the dark, and saw that it came from a grid above an empty corridor. She guessed it meant she must be deep inside Orochimaru's lair now, as there were no windows along the corridor so she must be quite a way underground by now.

The kunoichi waited for a couple of minutes, and after nothing broke the heavy silence that surrounded her, she quietly removed the grid cover to the vent opening that led into the corridor and slipped inside before quickly replacing it again. She hit the ground silently, bending her knees to the point where she was crouching in order to spread the impact out so it resulted in minimal noise and pain.

She then stood up straight again, stretching her muscles that had cramped up after spending so much time trapped in the ventilation system and adjusted her Akatsuki cloak.

At that instant, a tumultuous explosion shook the still air and Tenten had to duck as small sections of the ceiling crumbled and fell to the floor around her. The shockwaves dispersed after a minute, and as the dust settled, Tenten stood up once more. The blast had come from quite a way away, and yet the resulting tremor had reached this far into the lair. Tenten found herself feeling thankful that Deidara _had _been handicapped for her fight against him.

* * *

Deidara wheeled deftly through the sky above the main entrance of Orochimaru's hide-out, the wings of the eagle-like clay creation he was standing atop continually shifting and moving to catch the evening's air currents, but also to above the barrage of weapons and attacks that were coming his way.

He grinned a wide unnerving grin as he threw another of his finest missiles at the increasing horde of subordinates gathered below.

"This time, with emotion, yeah?" He yelled before clamping his hands together in a hand-sign.

"KATSU!"

The swiftly flying white bird glowed brightly for a second as ninja right and left dived out of the way, before it exploded in a blast that lit up Deidara's features from below making him look quite deranged. The shinobi who were caught up in the blast were tossed into the air as dust from the ground and wreckage of the base's entrance was thrown up in clouds around the area.

Deidara laughed animatedly as some of the milling troops below brought forward a device which somewhat resembled a trebuchet. Inside were placed several lethal looking projectile weapons with cruel barbed points like harpoons.

"Now look who's getting creative!" The blonde shinobi smirked as the long weapons where launched at a considerable speed in his direction.

However, under the adrenalin of the battle, he was secretly worried. Since commencing his onslaught on the base, he had not seen anyone important, not to mention Orochimaru himself. This either meant that he was unbothered by Deidara's attack and saw him as an inconvenience rather than a threat, or he had realised it was a diversion and was hunting Tenten down. This made Deidara wonder if the kunoichi was alright, although he would never admit it.

Lastly, there was the matter of the several chakra patterns he had detected some minutes earlier, heading fast in their direction. He couldn't tell what village they were from or whether they were friend or foe, as they had disguised their signatures pretty well. Deidara found himself wanting this mission to end soon before something went dangerously wrong, as his quick strategist's mind was telling him that the longer they stayed in this place, the more precarious their situation became.

* * *

Tenten made her way down the empty corridor, keeping one hand on the wall to her right. She knew a lot about mazes, and one thing that was important was that if you keep your attention on the one wall beside you, you will eventually meet the middle and were less likely to get lost.

This corridor had no distinguishing features, no furniture or notable characteristics except for the same organic repeating pattern that covered the walls, floor and ceiling and just served to confuse her even more. The light filling the passage was dull, a yellowish shade that emanated from dim spotlights that were placed every few meters in the ceiling. They offered very little comfort or warmth and made Tenten's skin crawl.

She kept her concentration fixed on the path ahead of her, knowing that the lair of Orochimaru undoubtedly had many hidden dangers to beware of. Now and again, Tenten would notice a door set into the thick walls of the twisting corridor. However, since she could detect no chakra at all through these, she ignored them deciding that where a jutsu was being created, massive bursts of chakra were likely to be found.

Not only was Tenten anxious of attack or traps, she had just remembered a key fact from her time in the Leaf Village. What if she ran into Sasuke Uchiha? The one who had abandoned the Leaf village in some ways a lot like she had to gain power. He had been able to defeat Naruto, even with his jinchuuriki powers. He was truly a formidable opponent.

Suddenly, there was a drastic upheaval of the ground beneath Tenten's feet. She had to force herself not to cry out as, with an almighty crash, a deep cavern collapsed underneath her and she fell, the loose earth crumbling all around her into the pit.


	10. The Labyrinth

**Chapter ten here!**

**Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing this story, it means so much to me! With any luck, there'll be some proper DeiTen soon, but hey, these things take a while! I can't decide whether to bring Sasuke into this or not. If I do, be warned: I am a Sasuke-hater.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**I do not own Naruto.**

The earth all around her crumbled away and fell along with her as her fingers lashed out desperately for a handhold. The echo of the pieces of floor that had collapsed before her hitting the bottom of the pit filled the corridor as she swung around to look into the deep hole into which she was descending.

Tenten had to force herself not to yelp as she saw a mass of pointed stakes racing towards her, a couple stained dark brown with old blood from previous victims. With seconds to spare before she was impaled, she collected her mess of thoughts and angled her slender body so that she fell between the sharp points and to the bottom of the pit. She hit the ground hard but remained quiet, employing all of her skills to keep herself silent.

Bruised and aching, she stood shakily up and looked around. She appeared to have fallen about thirty feet, but had somewhat softened her fall buy swinging her bag underneath her at the last second. For once, she was intensely glad she carried weapons in the scrolls and pouches at her hip than in her rucksack. She was lucky to have gotten off so likely from a fall like that.

The pit stank of old blood and death, but being a kunoichi she was trained not to be bothered by such morbidities, it was after all, all part of the job description. Looking up at the raised stakes, she was lucky to have reacted in time, as they were quite densely packed and if her reflexes hadn't been any quicker she would have been skewered.

_Wouldn't that have been the end of a brilliant criminal career?_

She smirked momentarily at the thought, getting more and more used to the idea of being a missing-nin. Bringing herself back to reality, she sighed, highly surprised if the crash of falling masonry hadn't alerted the whole of Orochimaru's liar. In any case, she was not staying in this pit any longer; she still had her mission to attend to at the end of the day.

Reaching for the scroll containing her prized twin scythes, she threw it open and clenched the weapons in both hands. She spun around, imbedding the tip of one in the wood of the nearest stake. She followed suit with the other, and proceeded in this fashion, pulling her weight up the vertical surface until she emerged from the pit and stood panting against the wall. It would have been so much easier just to use chakra to walk straight up the side of the hole, but due to the density of the stake, there had not been enough room.

Wiping sweat from her brow, she continued along the corridor, now doubly as cautious for any more hidden traps. Judging by the blue prints she had been given, she must be getting close by now. As a result, it was highly probable that the traps would also increase in number as well. Tenten sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

Deidara was tiring of this game now, as he sent yet another guided missile into the swarm of subordinates below him. Did they ever stop coming? They were like ants, milling around down there.

His mind drifted towards Tenten, and he wondered how she was doing. At the thought of that Orochimaru capturing her, his face contorted with rage, as fury bubbled up in his chest. Then, he checked himself. Why was he feeling this way? Sure, she was pretty he supposed, but not extraordinarily good looking. Then his mind wandered to his memories of their first battle, her slender form twisting through the air like it weighed as much as a feather, and that cold but proud stare. She was pure artistry in ever sense of the word, from her soft pale skin to that disdainful gleam in her eye.

The missing-nin shook his head and smirked. He guessed that was why he found it so amusing to tease her the way he did, just so he could provoke that high and mighty attitude of hers.

Momentarily preoccupied, he suddenly snapped back into focus as the 'whoosh' of a flying object woke him up from his daydream. He dodged a second too late as a long spear shaped weapon flew through the air towards him, whistling through the wind. There was a soft sounding 'squish', as it ran right through the centre of the clay bird and only missed him because he rolled out of the way just in time.

Clinging to the bird's leg with one hand, Deidara clenched his teeth and cursed for being so damn careless. With the weight of the spear-shaft added to it, the clay bird began to dip in the air, swaying drunkenly as it fought to stay aloft. The rest of the forces below were gathering around, some preparing more weapons and jutsus in his moment of weakness. His clay creature looked as if it was going to right itself for a moment…before it shuddered and plummeted down towards the ground.

Deidara's lips curled into a wide smirk. This was finally getting exciting!

* * *

Tenten crept silently as ever through the maze, her fingers still lightly touching the cold wall by her side. Suddenly, she whipped around, both hands full of shuriken. She could have sworn she had heard somebody right behind her for the briefest of moments just then…

She ducked just in time. A heavy fist swung through the air where her head just been, skimming the top of her hair. The kunoichi grinned, glad of some action after skulking around for hours, and rolled sideways before gathering herself to her feet, her long robes swirling gracefully around her.

Her deep mahogany eyes locked onto the enemy as her mind instantaneously ran through tactics and plans she could use. This was an enclosed space indeed, but she could use that to her advantage.

"Am I to assume that you are a guard in this place?" Tenten asked, surprised at the commanding tone of her voice that she had rarely heard from herself before.

"I'm not telling you anything, Akatsuki!" Snarled her opponent.

The man was of a heavy build, with wiry muscles that were evident to the naked eye, and his face reminded Tenten of Pakkun, that ninja hound summoning Kakashi had used on the Kazekage retrieval mission. He wore the usual sound-village headband on his brow, casting a shadow into his deep set eyes.

"Wrong answer." Tenten hissed.

The kunoichi danced to the side before her enemy could react, her feet noiseless on the hard floor as she twisted out of the way of a well thrown volley of shuriken aimed for her head. Evidently this subordinate wasn't as weak as she had imagined.

Taking a quick step backwards from him, she drew two handfuls of kunai out of her hip pouches, and hurled them at the sound ninja. He grinned and ducked before charging towards Tenten, eyes full of triumph.

Tenten gave a small smile, as with a wide gesture, the kunai swung around in mid air and threw themselves at the sound shinobi once more. As he turned to dodge, he noticed that they were connected with a thin chakra string, explaining her control over them. This time, he was too late, and a deep gash was opened on his right forearm.

The sound ninja grunted with pain as rivulets of blood dripped down his arm, but he didn't slow down. Tenten flipped to the side as she evaded a powerful flying kick sent her way, and leapt up into the air to return a kick of her own. It connected with the man's jaw and he stumbled backwards clutching his face.

In that instant, the man's form shimmered and collapsed into a puddle of water.

"Dammit!" hissed Tenten.

It had been a clone all along. The brunette kunoichi was suddenly pulled backwards and slammed into the wall at her back. Her face contorted in pain as her head banged against the hard surface and lights danced before her eyes. The sound shinobi pinned her by her throat, his grip tightening. She wanted to flinch away from his hot and disgusting breath on her face, but forced her features to remain impassive.

"What a shame to waste such a pretty prize…if only I had been off duty then you and I could ha-"

Tenten had opened a scroll by her side whilst the man had been preoccupied. A demon windmill shuriken appeared in her outstretched palm and she brought her arm up in a wide arc to slice off her captor's head. The sound shinobi caught her wrist and the shuriken was sent flying off behind him.

"Why you little bitch! I'll make sure you don't try anything like that again!" he snarled.

At that moment, Tenten ducked quick as lightening right down to the ground out of his grip as a metallic clang sounded behind her captor. The shuriken hit the opposite wall and came ricocheting back towards them. There was a wet sounding 'squitch' followed by a thud, and all was still.

The kunoichi stood up and brushed the dust off her robes as she looked disdainfully behind her. The demon windmill shuriken had sunk deep into the sound ninja's back and some way into the wall in front of him. His eyes were open but glazed over and unseeing as blood spurted from his back, mouth and chest and ran down the wall to form a scarlet pool on the floor.

"Don't worry," Tenten said, "I won't."

She sighed and massaged her throat where he had almost strangled her.

_A damn shame I couldn't have learnt some information from him…oh well, you can't have everything, I suppose…_

She approached the corpse and gripped the demon windmill shuriken with one hand before wrenching it out of the man's body, wrinkling her nose as blood spattered onto her robes and skin. Cleaning the weapon carefully with the cloth she had purchased for the job many months ago, she stowed it in its scroll once again and put the scroll away.

The fact that she had met a guard in the first place evidently meant she was nearing her destination, as security was bound to be tightened beyond this point. Even so, it still unnerved her slightly that she had only run into one guard. Not that she was complaining, but she wondered whether it was supposed to goad her into a false sense of security.

Tenten took out the blue printed once more and smoothed them out, studying them closely. It appeared that the door to her right in about one hundred yards would take her through another, smaller, corridor and at the end of that she would find the research room she had been looking for. She was glad of this, as the unchanging dark brick-red walls with than hypnotic swirling pattern was starting to unnerve her somewhat.

Stowing the blue-prints back in her bag, she stood up straight and began walking silently forward once more. She looked briefly back at the corpse, wishing there was some broom cupboard or something to hide it in. Could it be any more obvious? She decided to break into a run on the basis that once the corpse was discovered, all hell would break loose in this eerily silent base.

She soon reached the closed door. It looked just the same as all of the other doors in the place, but she was sure it was the right one. She looked up and down the corridor briefly before slipping thin senbon needle that had an intricate twist at the end into the lock of the door. There was a quiet 'click' and she twisted the door-handle, grinning as it opened easily. Tenten replaced the senbon needle into her hip pouch, and made her way into the corridor on the other side, closing the door behind her. She looked up as automatic lights flickered on to illuminate the narrow passage.

"Ah, hell…" She breathed.

The corridor was filled with Orochimaru's men, from those with that glazed look of drug-induced stupor to others who looked like they were loyal by trust. Either way, they all looked like sizable opponents. As if one body, they all turned to stare at the kunoichi who stood before them. Tenten quickly dug around in her hip bags and withdrew two handfuls of kunai.

As she launched herself forward, so did her closest enemy with a long katana clenched in one fist. Tenten transferred all the kunai to one hand, gripping them skilfully between her fingers as with her now free hand she withdrew her own katana and parried her opponent's thrust.

Whilst holding him at bay, she threw the kunai as hard as she could over the heads of the enemies so they landed near the back of the men, buried in the ground. However, these were no ordinary kunai, as each had a pre-prepared explosive tag tied to the handle.

The heads of the sound shinobi turned and their eyes widened as the tags began to glow, and Tenten ducked suddenly as a blast that would have made Deidara very proud shook the small space. Yells and screams filled the dusty air as the heat expanded from the point of detonation, just falling short of Tenten herself.

The katana wielder and couple of others, though badly blistered, were still on their feet, if not looking the worse for wear. Catching her first opponent off guard, Tenten drove the point of her slender katana clean through his chest. He gasped and blood ran down from the corner of his mouth and he slumped forwards onto her, dead. The kunoichi pushed him off, and looked up at the remainder of the sound shinobi.

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow any of you to live to tell Orochimaru that I'm here." Tenten said calmly, wondering secretly how she could be so composed after killing so many human lives…what was she turning into?

The three men still standing made no comment to this, but all ran forward robotically to attack as were there apparent orders. Within half a minute, two were dead, and the last was pinned against the wall by Tenten's katana, his blanched face covered with spatters of crimson blood. Sweat stood out on his skin and his was breathing fast, knowing the end was near.

"Aheh…heh…heh…he already knows, kunoichi. You have no hope of escape, as you speak he is coming. I hope you know what you're in f-"

Tenten stopped him in the middle of his sentence, a shuriken embedded in his chest.

"Thank you for that little piece of information." Tenten replied.

She replaced her katana and the various weapons strewn across the scarlet soaked corridor into her bag as she picked her way across the piles of bodies, some still smoking ever so slightly. What that last guy had said had set Tenten's nerves on edge. Was it true? Was she being hunted down at that moment?

She shook such pessimistic thoughts out of her head, focussing on the mission at hand. With a sigh, she placed her fingers around the door-handle at the end of the narrow corridor, and slowly turned it as the door opened.


	11. Of Scrolls and Chains

**Chapter Eleven.**

**The 'Impure World Resurrection Jutsu' was the best invention ever – I mean, it brought back all the best characters (albeit for less than a chapter each) but hey, you can't have everything!**

**I do not own Naruto!**

Tenten blinked as harsh light hit her eyes the moment she stepped into the room. It was a sterile white light that, after the dull glow of the corridor, burned her retina and made her see spots before her eyes. After a while, she adjusted to the harsh brightness and looked out at her surroundings.

The room was nothing special, in fact pretty similar to the research laboratories they had back in Konoha and a little like the medical room she ad first woken up in after her meeting with Sasori and Deidara in the woods. The walls were plain white, with shelves put up here and there on which lay a variety of flasks and vials. She looked down as the sole of her boot squeaked against the polished white tiles of the floor and cursing, knowing how hard it would be to move in and out of this room without leaving telltale footprints.

However, the object in the room that drew the most attention was a thin table that stood in the centre of the room, carved from some sort of dark wood, perhaps mahogany. Into it were scratched rows of symbols and letters and figures, most of which Tenten had no idea what they meant,. But assumed must be important.

Lying open on the table, was a huge scroll. It was tattered and worn at the edges, and the ink appeared to be wearing thing in some areas, but Tenten could almost feel the power emanating from it; it made her skin crawl. Without a doubt, this was the 'Impure World Resurrection' jutsu that the Leader had described.

Getting more and more apprehensive at the lack of any sound at all, Tenten approached, extending a hand to pick up the scroll, eyes fixed on it.

"I wouldn't touch that, if I were you."

Tenten whipped around as a calm voice that was nonetheless sneering cut through the still air like a whip. Her eyes met the shine of a pair of glasses, that when the owner moved out of the light revealed a pair of dark, cold eyes. The tall, white-haired man grinned at her shocked face.

"…Kabuto!" hissed Tenten, remembering the bingo book from back in the leaf village.

This man was the one they had been hunting for along with Orochimaru, the snake-sage's co-conspirator during the chunin exams disaster. How on earth had he managed to just appear out of no-where like that? And without betraying his chakra presence for even a second?

"I see someone's done her homework. I remember you from the chunin exams…never thought a quiet kunoichi like you would ever join Akatsuki, how very interesting. I would be inclined to find out more…that is, if I were to let you live. It distresses me severely to know that a low-level kunoichi such as yourself could get this more – our guard's standards must be slipping."

At this, Tenten's eyes widened in indignation, and her knuckles became white as she clasped her katana in one hand.

"That child I once was has gone now!" She snarled, before lunging forward, sweeping the katana with deadly accuracy through the air at Kabuto.

* * *

Deidara looked up at the sun, or, more correctly, the absence of the sun. It was at least an hour past night-fall now, and yet the blasted sound-village shinobi wouldn't stop coming. He had prepared enough clay for a lot of enemies, but even he hadn't imagined there would be this many.

The blonde criminal was standing atop another of his large transport birds. Things would have looked bleak to anyone else when he was been dangling from the claws of his last one with a spear through it's side, but he had leapt away and formed a new one in the moment before he hit the ground. Then, whilst he had risen back up out f the way of the enemy, the first bird had crashed into the ground. Using the situation to his advantage, he had then detonated the fallen one, with a blast that sent Orochimaru's men flying into the air.

However, now that he dug around in his hip bags for clay, he gritted his teeth, finding there was little left, not enough to last much longer if the troops, poor fighters as they were, kept coming.

"Guess I better end this sooner rather than later, hmm?" He said to himself as his hand moulded the remaining clay.

He remembered that fight with the Kazekage, back in Sunagakure where his mission had been to capture the Shukaku sand spirit. Grinning, he lifted into the air a single doll, its arms crossed over its chest, sculpted with a mouth open in a silent scream.

"Allow me to show you lowlifes true art, yeah!" Deidara yelled loud enough for the milling troops below to hear.

With that, the blonde shinobi tossed the doll into the air. It floated for a moment, the arms opening like wings before it expanded in the space of a second to the size of an elephant, its shadow passing over the watching shinobi below. Deidara's eyes widened deranged momentarily, oblivious as a shuriken skimmed his forearm cutting a gash into his flesh.

"C3, Ohako!"

There was a momentary silence, unbroken apart from the 'whoosh' of the Ohako as it plummeted down towards Orochimaru's subordinates, and the soft sound of Deidara flying higher so not to be caught up in the explosion.

The doll suddenly began to glow, the bright light becoming a piercing white, expanding until the sound-shinobi who had not fled had to shield their eyes, and illuminating Deidara's exhilarated featured from below, before an explosion that made the very air quake filled the space.

Clouds of burning heat blasted out from the centre point of the detonation, instantly turning men to cinders. The shockwaves tore up huge clods of earth, throwing up vast clouds of dust that hid the destruction from Deidara's view. Even rock was crumbled and the ballista like weapon the sound-shinobi had used against Deidara was shattered and burned to ashes in moments.

"True art, is an explosion." Smirked Deidara from his high up vantage point.

* * *

The room suddenly gave a violent shudder and Tenten was thrown completely off balance. For that matter, she wasn't the only one as Kabuto gave a look of surprise and stumbled as well. Putting out a hand to stop herself, Tenten stood upright once more, looking around.

What on earth was that? Surely Deidara could not have caused an explosion that big…

Tenten ducked as a kunai whistled over head, and her concentration fixed firmly back onto the enemy before her. If the sources she had read whilst still in the leaf village were correction, this was no rival to take likely. This time last month, she would have never dreamed of fighting this man and would have been well advised to back down. However, his earlier taunt about her abilities still rang in her mind and to be honest, what other choice did she have right now?

She threw opened the scroll for her scythe and parried with her katana just in time as Kabuto tried to slit her throat with another kunai. He was strong, but so was she and she managed to hold him off in time to aim a swing of the scythe at his head.

"So, you aren't totally pathetic. I am glad, that would have been so dull. In any case, using weapons against you seems to not be the best way forward at this point…" Kabuto said disinterestedly as he dropped his kunai.

Suddenly, a swirling blue light engulfed his hands, extending to just above his wrists. Tenten's eyes looked on with calculated interest. This must be the technique she had heard about from Lady Tsunade, focussing intense chakra to the hands to the point where they became fatal weapons on their own, capable of ceasing all bodily function if they touched you. It was a technique that Tenten had been interesting in cultivating for herself, as to be able to transforms ones own body into such a strong weapon would have been a brilliant boost of her abilities.

Before Tenten could plan her next move, Kabuto had launched himself towards her, hands pulled back so he could strike. Tenten ducked and rolled out of the way, digging around in her back for a scroll. She knew that contact with such an intense aura of chakra would very likely smash most of her more common weapons, or bend them to the point of being useless. Besides, such an adept opponent as this would find it no difficulty to counter such predictable tools in the first place.

Lunging out of the way of another volley of blows, she lithely leapt across the room to the opposite wall, ripping a medium sized scroll from her bag. The sound of metal hitting metal filed the room as the smoke from the summoning cleared, and revealed the weapon in Tenten's arms.

It was a long, snake-like chain, weighted at each ender with a single kunai knife. Each link of the chain was made from specially tempered steel that she had selected for the purpose herself, and sported an inch long blade on both sides. Tenten had spent weeks getting to grips with this particular item in her collection, as it took superior skill and strength to wield without chopping her own fingers off. It was about as long as Tenten was tall, with perhaps an extra foot or so added in.

The kunoichi whirled the weapon deftly around her head and threw its length out at Kabuto, the small knife-like edges to the links gouging scars in the walls where they had scraped it. Her enemy smirked and moved aside just in time before the wall behind him was almost demolished.

"I see, you ran chakra into the chain to increase its overall destructive power. However, that will have its drawbacks, no?" Kabuto smiled.

Tenten's eyes narrowed. How could he know? Of course, she supposed he was a skilled shinobi who used chakra manipulation as a key technique. This method of transmitting chakra down the metal chain was effective, but rapidly drained her reserves of stamina.

"That's not all I can do!" She hissed.

Kabuto looked on with interest as he dodged the chain once more, careful not to let her get too close to the table on which the jutsu scroll lay. Suddenly, thin blue threads of light shot from the links of the chain, faster than the sound-shinobi could move. The tendrils stuck to his arms, his legs and his chest before he could react.

Suddenly, they tautened and the chain was pulled towards him, pulled by the thin strings until with a wet sounding 'thud', the chain wrapped itself tightly around Kabuto like the embrace of a python.

The white-haired shinobi let out a gasp of pain as the miniature blades sunk into his flesh and blood ran down his sides from numerous punctures. His legs trembled and collapsed from under him as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"You…" He began in a ragged breath, "You…used…chakra stings as well? That's a…unusual…technique."

"Well, you're the first to see it. I've never done it before." Tenten commented calmly, still tense incase of a trick, as she knew this man was definitely capable of.

"Still…exuding chakra strings from…non-organic…compounds is…quite an advanced…jutsu…for a mere Konoha…chunin." Kabuto continued in a strained voice before coughing up another splatter of blood.

"Well, there you see you're mistake." Tenten replied coldly, "Because I'm not Konoha any longer. I belong to Akatsuki."

"Spoken like a true criminal." Hissed a voice by her ear.

Tenten whirled around as with a cloud of smoke, the injured Kabuto coughing up blood disappeared in an instant and she found herself looking through thick glass into a pair of dark mirthless eyes. The one she had hit had been a clone all along! Suddenly, she cried out in pain as this real Kabuto swiped the side of his hand into her right arm. The blow, had it been a normal hit, would not have even made her flinch, but enforced with chakra it sent her flying across the room to hit the opposite wall. She gritted her teeth and stood up, gasping as intense pain engulfed her right arm.

She tried to reach into her back to draw another scroll, but her dominant right hand wouldn't respond. Her eyes widened as she realised what he had done to her.

"You can feel my technique taking its toll? I'm not surprised. My chakra targeted all of your nerve endings below the point I struck you on your forearm. Your muscles have been completely disabled; you can move that arm or hand at all." Smirked Kabuto as Tenten glowered at him, her face the picture of loathing.

He had taken her ability to wield her weapons from her, the thing that she worked harder for than anything else in her life. Of course, she was not to know that the effects were not permanent, so this dealt an even more painful blow than the physical pain in her arm.

"You…BASTARD!" Tenten yelled, her voice cracking slightly.

She knew that her chakra levels were dangerously low, and that she might not have enough to get out of the situation alive. With her less sure left hand, she dug around and brought out a hand full of shuriken, flinging them as her right arm dangled uselessly. They would have all met their mark, if the sound-shinobi hadn't just leapt to avoid them.

Tenten looked around suddenly as Kabuto disappeared from view, and was forced to block at last minute as a demon windmill shuriken came flying at her. Being the weapon's mistress, she was easily able to block it from striking her heart where it was aimed for, but having not allowed for the useless dead weight of her right arm, she gasped as the projectile sunk deep into its immobilised muscle, pinning her to the wall.

Pain exploded through her arm, and she bit her lip to the point where it started to bleed to stop herself making any more noise. In that instant, Kabuto appeared once more, striding over to her and grinning that cold, superior smile that she hated so much.

"Looks like it's the end for you, little kunoichi." He said, "And I almost regret it, you were such entertainment."

"In which case you'd be wrong." Tenten spat, as with her other arm she lifted a single kunai with a detonating tag tied to the end.

Before Kabuto could stop her, she flung it as hard and as accurately as she could. It sailed through the air, even as Kabuto turned away from her and launched himself towards it to stop its path, but he was too late. The knife buried itself into the wood of the table right by the scroll that lay upon its surface, and the tag began to glow as it prepared to explode. Tenten wrenched the demon windmill shuriken out of her immobilised arm with a sharp intake of breath and ducked beneath her Akatsuki cloak just in time.

There was a moment of silence before the small room was filled with absolute chaos as the tag exploded. Rings of smoke and fire blasted out from the centre point, incinerating the scroll until it was just some wisps of ashes that were carried into the air by the shockwaves.


	12. Empty Orbs

**Chapter twelve.**

**I may possibly do some art to go with this story if I have the time and the patience, considering my current workload is nearly touching the ceiling as it is…**

**I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

Tenten gritted her teeth as the flames from the explosion began to eat through her cloak; evidently they hadn't been designed to be heat-proof. Even as she felt the fire start to blister her left arm and the pain almost became unbearable, she stayed completely still until the chaos ended, and the shock-waves from the blast died down.

She threw off her Akatsuki cloak, and stood shakily up. She suddenly realised just how drained she was; her chakra was almost completely depleted and she was sporting several minor injuries, not to mention her right arm still refused to move when she told it to. She winced, digging around in her bag for some ointment to put on the large burn on her left arm. Her head was still ringing from the cacophony of the explosion, and was throbbing painfully.

Stamping out the last of the flames that still clung to her holed cloak, she looked around to see what ad become of Kabuto. He was nowhere to be seen. Tenten suppressed a snarl of frustration. The slippery weasel must have used some kind of teleportation jutsu to get away at the last moment!

Tenten walked unsteadily across the wrecked room, avoiding the fallen shelves that were still burning. The originally white-washed walls were now blackened, as was the floor. Her body ached as she bent over to pick up her prized bladed chain and stowed it in its scroll before she stood up straight and sighed.

Kabuto would probably right now be scampering away to his master to relay the news of what she had done, and facing Orochimaru in battle in her current state was definitely not on the top of Tenten's to-do list.

The brunette kunoichi picked up her blackened robes and put them on once more, sighing with frustration at the numerous holes caused by the fire that had been eaten through the thick material.

Making sure she had retrieved all of the scattered weapons she had used during the battle, she swung her bag once more onto her back and headed for the doorway, as the door had been blown off of its hinges earlier on.

She leant panting against the bent doorframe as she passed, her left hand clutching the wound that sank right through her immobilised arm that was from when Kabuto had pinned it to the wall with the demon windmill shuriken.

She knew she was loosing too much blood, as even though she could move it, whenever her limp arm was jostled by her movement it triggered fresh blood to ooze from the wound. Knowing that the longer she remained, the sooner Orochimaru would arrive, she hurriedly bound the injury with bandages and gritted her teeth as she looked at her rushed work; she was definitely no medic ninja.

Checking that the corridor ahead was still empty apart from the scattered bodies from earlier on, she began to run, as fast as she could without letting her feet make any noise against the hard floor. Soon, she reached the end of the corridor, the end that led into the wider passage.

Having memorised the route from this point that would take her to the ventilation tunnel that was to be her escape way, she looked quickly in both directions to check for Orochimaru's subordinates, and then continued at an unsteady run through the corridor ahead.

The swirling patterns on the walls were disorientating her, spiralling continuously and distracting her from her course. The warm yet unfriendly yellow light from the lamps that lit the passage made her feel drowsy, especially due o her lack of chakra and energy.

Tenten shook her head and cleared her tangled mess of thoughts, focussing on the task at hand, and broke into a straight sprint, knowing her freedom was close at hand now. As soon as she found the tunnel, she could get her breath back and then it would just be a short stretch before she made it back out of this terrible place and back to…Deidara.

The kunoichi suddenly wondered why her thoughts had grounded on the blonde-shinobi. For some unknown reason, the thought of being reunited with him made her feel safe and secure again, a feeling that after nearly a day in this place seemed like an alien concept to her. She sent these thoughts straight out of her mind at once, telling herself that she was getting delirious. However, the thoughts remained at the back of her mind.

It was then that Tenten heard the shout.

"There she is, the intruder Lord Orochimaru described, there she is! THERE SHE IS!" yelled a voice from behind her.

Tenten span around, eyes widening as she looked into those of a sound-shinobi whose face was positively glowing with triumph. Evidently, not only had Orochimaru been told about her by that rat Kabuto, he had also already alerted his troops. By the ecstatic look on the sound-shinobi's face that had spotted her, quite a reward had been placed on her head. A clever move, she supposed; using the carrot and stick method to motivate his subordinates.

However, now was not the time to worry about things like that, as more and more sound ninja were pouring out of the side doors and into the main corridor, hot on her heel. The exhausted Tenten put on a desperate burst of sped as she knew the drainage and ventilation tunnel was close at hand. Being teamed up with the fastest shinobi in the leaf village for most of her life had certainly taught her to be quick.

The kunoichi flew done the corridor, her feet barely touching the ground as the adrenalin in her system gave her the energy she needed not to keel over with fatigue. She was breathing heavily and sweat drenched her face, her many injuries protesting violently at the strain on her body.

Her face broke into a wild smile as she saw the metal grill in the side of the wall ahead of her, the ticket that would lead her to freedom. Tearing down the corridor like had never ran in her life, she skidded to a halt outside of it, and with new-found strength at the thought of safety, she kicked the metal grill in on itself, and with another strike it broke away from the rusting fitting sand fell with a clatter to the ground.

Tenten looked up and saw that the shinobi were even closer now, and some had drawn kunai and shuriken. Cursing that she had used up all of her detonating tags, she withdrew a handful of smoke-bombs and hurled them at the oncoming mass. In the cloud of confusion they generated, she dived into the narrow tunnel and began to crawls, shuffling along the metal ground as if her life depended on it...which it did.

The tunnel began to slope up after a while, even though the ceiling remained level. This worried her a little, as the space for her movement was rapidly becoming less and less, and she could now here the clambering noise of the enemy shinobi following her into the cramped passageway.

It was all made doubly hard by the fact that she had to crawl without the use of her right arm, which was still refusing to move. The air was hot and rancid, and the walls of the metal tunnel were slippery with condensation, not to mention the fact that her hands were slippery with sweat and grime.

Tenten was now seriously starting to panic as crawling was becoming extremely difficult. Her back and head were pressed against the roof, and her knees dug painfully into her chest every time she shuffled forwards. Tenten growled with frustration and undid the ties that held the buns of her hair in place, as they were dragging against the ceiling and pressing into her head.

After a few more feverish minutes, not only was the space so flat now that she had resorted to crawling on her belly like a snake, but the shouts of the sound shinobi were closer, although they must have been having the same trouble as she – if not worse as she was probably far thinner than most of them. Tenten's eyes widened as she realised she would have to sacrifice her rucksack if she was going to keep going; it was getting stuck in the cramped space.

This was more of a test that it would seem, as it contained most of her valuable weapons in their scrolls. With the sigh of some-one who has lost a treasured pet, she removed her bag, took out a few essentials like her water flask and wound ointment, and left her rucksack behind.

Not only was mobility getting impossible now, breathing was also getting harder and harder as the space narrowed. However, just as Tenten was contemplating stopping to rethink her options, she felt a waft of fresh air on her face. It was almost nothing, and she could have imagined it, but it gave her the strength she needed to keep going.

Suddenly, her hands were clawing at thin air. Reaching down, she could feel a vertical wall below and above the small opened through which she was jammed, and with a hard shove, pushed her head and shoulders out of the tight space into the darkness. It was pitch black here, just as the thin tunnel had just been, but she thought she could see a glimmer on the distance.

Behind her, there were the sounds of the shinobi angrily arguing, but either way, they were definitely not getting any closer to her anymore. The noise died away as they turned back, the thin tunnel having become to narrow for them to move at all.

Carefully, Tenten eased out the rest of her body, and leapt away from the wall, landing heavily on the floor below. Although the hard surface jarred her ankles and made her wince, thankfully the drop had not been that far so she was otherwise unharmed. Lighting a small torch that she carried with her in her bag, she could clearly see where she was.

Tenten was standing at the end of a vast cavern, the end of which was not in sight except for that faint glimmer in the distance. Looking back, she could see the thin slit of an opening through which she had crawled, and then looked at herself.

Her clothes were covered with sweat and grime from the tunnel, not to mention the holes in her cloak from the explosion earlier. She wondered if she was even recognisable, especially with her hair which was now down and resembled the hair of a scarecrow.

She sighed, knowing that it would not be long before Orochimaru's men or Orochimaru himself headed her off at the exit of the drainage cavern. She held her torch aloft and started to traverse the cave, noticing that it stretched before her like a tunnel, naturally eroded through the rock by a small rivulet that ran through the cave.

Tenten at once knelt by the water and checked it was sanitary before taking a deep gulp of the refreshing liquid, knowing that in her current state, dehydration was the last thing she needed.

She took of at a jog down the rocky tunnel, unable to go much faster as she was close to the end of her strength. The adrenalin of her earlier encounter had worn off, and her breathing was ragged and her injuries seemed to hurt now more than ever. However, the silver lining was that she was beginning to get some feeling back in her right arm, although this did have the effect of making the deep wound in it even more painful.

She could tell the light was coming closer, and could feel that ever increasing waft of fresh air on her face. She made a silent vow to herself that if she ever got out of here alive, she would never ever take sunshine and the wind on her face for granted again.

At the back of her mind, she began to feel a pressure of some sort, the type of which she associated with the presence of another person's chakra. However, in her current state of exhaustion, she supposed it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Tenten's unsteady run slowed to a stumbling walk as she felt herself draining the last dregs of her energy. Compared to most of the shinobi in the Leaf Village, she had had nearly the best stamina out of them all, particularly the group of rookies, but now she knew, a little further, and even she was sure to collapse.

"I will not give up now." She found herself sating.

"I refuse…to die…here!"

After a further few minutes of this stumbling gait, the light was nearly upon her. She could smell the fresh air and make out trees in the distance through the opening ahead of her. She had forgotten that this passage opened out close to the forest. Not long now, and everything would be fine; she could meet Deidara and he would take her back to the Akatsuki base, mission complete. The thought of that filled her with such a feeling of hope and determination; she almost broke into a run again.

She could tell by the pallor of the light and the length of the shadows that it must be early morning, perhaps some time after dawn. She gave a sharp intake of breath as her foot caught under a rock and she pitched forwards, hitting the ground painfully. Shakily, she heaved herself back onto her feet.

She had never felt so heavy, and her burnt arm that she had applied ointment to was sticking to the fabric of her shirt. Gritting her teeth, Tenten tore off the sleeve and reapplied the salve, wincing as it stung. However, the jolt of pain brought her out of her weary stupor and she shook her head, carrying on through the rocky terrain. Once again, those foreign chakra signals surfaced at the back of her mind, but in her current state they didn't seem at all important to her.

The mouth of the cavern was now only about one hundred yards ahead of her, and she could clearly see the landscape beyond through it. How she could have thought the place a barren wasteland, she had no idea. After that monotony of the endless passageways of Orochimaru's base, it seemed like a tropical paradise in comparison. And the sky! It was still filled with weaving patterns of blue, purple and pink from dawn, and Tenten could swear she had never seen anything as beautiful in her life.

After a further few minutes, she was standing at the opening of the cavern, staring up at the sky in almost a trance-like state. Suddenly, with her freedom before her, she felt the last dregs of her energy leave, her legs crumpled beneath her and she felt to the ground. Tenten's ragged breathing was the only sound, apart from the birds that were calling to each other in the forest about twenty yards away.

Suddenly, with her face pressing against the hard earthy ground, sh heard the unmistakeable sound of footsteps coming towards her. They were running; she could tell from the way they were too irregular to be walking.

"Dei…dara?" Tenten breathed, her voice shaking nearly as must as her head as she struggled to lift it, expecting to be met with that pretentious smirk that annoyed her so much.

A pair of hollow white eyes was all she could make out, before everything went black.


	13. Festering

**Chapter thirteen.**

**Thirteen; unlucky for some, especially Tenten! Thanks to everyone for the reviews and such like! I do try and reply to the reviews I get, but to those who submitted anonymous reviews, a big thank you to you as well!**

**I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Deidara crouched low in the bushes as the sun rose over the horizon, throwing the barren landscape that the forest gave way to into sharp relief, splattering the blank canvas of a landscape with the colours of dawn. The breeze was slight, and played with the lengths of his hair in a way that irritated him as he fought to keep his concentration.

The blonde shinobi had been sitting in that same spot for nearly an hour now, and the adrenalin from the battle earlier had worn off long ago. The Ohako had devastated the front entrance to Orochimaru's lair, blasting away the ground like butter to the point where the twisting tunnels below became visible.

Of course, none of his opponents had survived; all within the three hundred metre radius had been killed and their remains now plastered the ground back at the battle scene, apart from the very small minority who had used teleportation jutsu at the last moment.

Having little clay remaining, Deidara had decided that he had created a suitably distracting diversion, and had left the area, heading for the meeting point he had discussed with Tenten. He wondered whether she had succeeded in her end, if she was even still alive. Part of him wanted to believe very strongly that she had, but he couldn't work out quite why. If she had succeeded in getting in, destroying Orochimaru's jutsu, and escaping again, he had certainly underestimated her.

However, she was definitely late by now. Bored, Deidara had resorted to making small figurines out of his clay, and these discarded sculptures now littered the ground about him. It was always a possibility that she had been killed or was incapable of continuing, he supposed. However, he automatically banished this thought, instead thinking of what the defensive kunoichi would say in reply to this.

'I was just taking the time to do the job _properly_, unlike some shinobi who rush in, guns blazing and make a mess of everything.' He could imagine her retort.

Even with these thoughts in mind, he remembered what she had said yesterday: 'If I don't turn up at the meeting point by mid morning tomorrow, I want you to leave.'

Dawn had been and gone, and still there was no sign of her. In fact, the edge of the forest where he now sat was silent, other than the melancholy calls of the birds here and there. Of course, he was a little way from the place where she was exiting Orochimaru's base, just to be safe just as they had planned. However, she should certainly have appeared by now.

Deidara fidgeted a little where he sat, straining to hear the sound of any foot steps that may herald Tenten's arrival. However, he heard none as the sun continued to rise in the sky above him. For the briefest of moments, he could have sworn he had felt the presence of several chakra signatures, but after deliberation dismissed them as his imagination. Soon he would have no choice but to leave and report to Leader that their newest member was missing in action.

* * *

The light was harsh, biting into Tenten's eyes painfully as her eyelids fluttered, trying to open. Her body seemed completely unresponsive for some reason, and it took her long enough just to open her eyes and adjust to her surroundings. The world around was filled with the sound of birdsong, usually a pleasant sound but in her present state seemed so loud it made her head throb.

Within about a minute, Tenten had acclimatised to consciousness enough to realise she was bound to a stout oak tree with some kind of thick fibrous rope. Her arms were pinned to her sides which explained why they had been so hard to move, but she was at least, not gagged. She was propped upright sitting against the tree at her back, her legs lying in front of her.

She tried shifting positions momentarily, just to see how tight her bindings were, but she gasped aloud in pain as the robes rubbed against the burn on one arm and the deep wound in the other. Her Akatsuki robes stuck painfully to the stickiness of her various injuries, and she had a pounding head ache from exhaustion.

In front of her, she could only see the forest, disappearing into the distance with the early morning haziness that lay close to the ground. However, from behind her, she could hear the crackle of a campfire and sounds of movement, even though no voices were audible as all she could make out were hushed whispers.

Tenten tried to turn her head to look behind her to see who her captors were, but the truck at her back was too thick to see around as she had been bound too tightly to be able to move to either side. Her mouth felt dry and tasted disgusting, just like it does when you wake up in the morning after having breathed through your mouth all night. She coughed suddenly, pressing her mouth to her shoulder to stifle the sound as her hands were unreachable at that present moment.

Abruptly, the sounds of movement behind her stopped for a moment, and Tenten had the feeling they had been waiting for her to wake up. There was a tense moment of absolute silence, before she heard the sound of approaching footsteps coming towards her. Tenten looked despairingly around her as she felt the absence of her bag and weapon pouches at her sides, hating the fact she was defenceless.

"If you're going to kill me, hurry up and get it over with!" Tenten said in a voice that sounded partway between a hiss and a croak through her chapped lips and sore throat.

The kunoichi's eyes widened momentarily as she recognised the person who had now walked into view from behind the tree she was tied to. Tenten immediately looked anywhere but his face as he crouched down so he was at her eye level. She could almost feel those blank eyes piercing into her skin.

Neji reached forwards and gripped her chin steadily between his thumb and fore finer, easily able to force her head to turn his was in her weakened state. Tenten's murky hazel eyes were locked with Neji's pale ones. She couldn't ready his eyes at all, but felt an overwhelming sense of rage consume her. How dare he!

Tenten twisted her head violently out of his grip, succeeding in banging it painfully against the tree behind her in the process. Seeing spots before her eyes, she glowered up at Neji who crossed his arm, the folds of his Hyuuga shirt ruffling softly. Tenten followed his eyes as they dropped to the red clouds that adorned her tattered cloak.

"I can't believe what you've done." He said in a flat, featureless voice.

"Well I've done it, and there's no going back." Tenten replied, trying as best she could to mirror his tone.

"No." Neji said.

Tenten looked away again, unable to bear to look at his pale face.

"So, did Tsunade send you? I assume Lee and Guy are here with you?"

"Yes. We were sent to search for you, or your body. Everyone believed you were dead. We were to pass by Orochimaru's hide-out en route for reconnaissance purposes. We were surprised with what we found."

"I assume you were."

"Tenten…how could you do this? After everything the village has done for you. After all Lee, Guy-sensei and I have done for you. Are you really so blind that you've turned your back on all of that?" Neji voice was rising, and Tenten could feel his anger in the air.

"I guess I was just sick of being the one holding the target all the time." Tenten replied nonchalantly, surprised at her own calmness.

"Akatsuki scum, through and through." Neji spat.

This made Tenten flinch, as the word 'Akatsuki' rolled off her former team-mates tongue like venom. Tenten's fury was lit once more. As if he had any right to speak to her like that! Especially after ignoring her and commenting on everything she did all these years, especially when she had made it obvious that she had felt something special for him, up until this precise moment.

"Akatsuki? Yes, I'm proud to be a member of it. They treat me with value, not as a friend but as a comrade and with respect. No, it's too little, too late to try and get me back on your side now, Neji. So if I'm just 'Akatsuki scum' to you, you might as well erase me right now."

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but it is not our duty to carry out that sentence. You are to be taken back to the Leaf Village and healed so that you're in a fit state of mind when we hand you over to the torture and interrogation squad, so that we may gain some useful intel on Akatsuki before your execution."

Suddenly, a flicker of fear began to rise inside Tenten as Neji said these words. She was to be handed over to the torture and interrogation squad?

* * *

A bead of sweat ran down Deidara's face as he waited; now pacing between the surrounding trees, for his mission partner. It was noon, and the sun was becoming too hot to sit comfortably outside the shade. Tenten wasn't coming. He had been told to leave by mid morning and here he was, several hours later to no avail.

He wondered why he had even waited this long until it struck him with unforgivable candidness. He desperately wanted the kunoichi to be alive. It was stupid, ridiculous to think that in this short space of time, he had grown fond of Tenten like this; after all, a shinobi must never make emotional attachments. However, her artistry, coupled with her fighting ability and down to earth nature as well as her spirit had grown on Deidara.

With a snarl of frustration, he scuffed up the leaf litter underfoot as he wondered what on Earth he was to do.

"Hey, what was that?"

"Dunno, but it came from the forest."

"Well go check it out, Lord Orochimaru said we weren't to overlook anything or he'd…he'd…I don't want to get on his bad side, especially since he lost that research project he's been working on for however many months it's been now."

"Yeah, yeah I heard him, come on…"

Deidara looked up at the couple of subordinates coming his way. Knowing he hadn't the chakra or the clay to make short work of a battle without drawing too much attention to himself, he turned and leapt to the trees above, starting on his long journey back to the Akatsuki hide-out. At least Tenten had achieved her goal before she died. He found himself hoping she had met a truly artistic death, worthy of her prowess.

As the trees fled by him, he kept his thoughts firmly fixed on getting back to the base. He tried flashing one of his signature devil-may-care grins to lighten his mood, but it didn't work. He sighed at a loss to himself as the green of the forest flew past in a blur.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye he spotted something that didn't fit in with the uniform green and brown. Coming to an abrupt halt that almost sent him tumbling off of his branch to the forest floor below, he turned to examine what it could be. Attached to one of the many trees in the area was a small rag; a scrap of torn fabric. It was fluttering limply in the light breeze, caught by the sharp finger of a wizened pine tree.

It was only about a hand square, but as Deidara picked it up, he could see the markings of the crimson Akatsuki cloud against the black. It was badly singed but obviously Akatsuki. From what Deidara knew, none of the rest of Akatsuki had missions within this area, so it could only mean one thing. Tenten was alive.

* * *

Soon after her brief discussion with Neji, Tenten had drifted once more into unconsciousness as the weight of exhaustion overtook her again. From what she had gathered, neither Lee nor Guy wanted to believe what she had become, but had consigned to the fact after a while. Either way, they had not yet spoken a word to her. Her back ached from being propped up against a tree for hours and her wounds stung painfully.

She was equally painfully aware that none of them had even bothered to treat any of her injuries, a fact that caused more anger and resentment to spark inside her. She may not have meant much to them before, but she had still been a comrade. Even with her changed alliances she had at least expected Lee to help his former-team mate a little, or at a very minimum bandage her wounds.

Lee had always treated her most like an equal out of her old team. They had often trained together and laughed together, unlike how Tenten had always been a little shy around Neji and frustrated with her team captain.

A little while later, she woke up once more, finding herself in a different part of the forest, but a part she was beginning to recognise. It couldn't be that far to the Leaf Village by now, and Tenten could tell by the position of the shadows that it was approaching late afternoon.

It was warm in a lazy way, a way that just sang to her sleep. This time, the kunoichi was not at her back to her captors, but facing there camp, and rather than having her whole body tied to a tree, only her wrists and ankles were bound. Even so, the ropes were tied painfully tight; but at least they didn't chafe against her burn and wound on her arms.

She guessed that Lee, being the softer egg of the group, had requested that she be tied less restricting. She appreciated this minimal show of courtesy nonetheless. As he passed her, she mouthed 'thank you' at him. Lee looked away and didn't meet her eyes.

By the time evening came around, they had moved still closer to Konoha, now only a few miles away. However, darkness was setting in and as she awoke from unconsciousness for the third time that day, she could feel the cold biting into her body.

Tenten was vaguely aware of someone pressing a flask to her lips. She swallowed the cool water as if she would never taste the liquid again; it felt so relieving on her dry throat and mouth.

"Don't drink it all. We don't want to waste it on you. You should feel lucky that I made sure you weren't bound as painfully as you were before." Neji said, his eyes stern and cold as always.

"You…?"

"Yes. The others didn't want to take the risk but I assured them that you wouldn't try anything. I hope you don't prove me mistaken."

Tenten looked away as a lead weight seemed to form in her stomach. Lee and Guy were afraid of her. In a way this was what she had always wanted deep inside, to have others respect her for her skill and power. As the sun disappeared and night fully embraced her, she missed her new home, even the Akatsuki's criminal members. She missed Deidara, and for the first time in a long while, she had never felt more alone.


	14. A Little Denial

**Chapter fourteen.**

**I know it's been a while, sorry about that but my workload is threatening to fall over and bury me as it is. However, I will continue to update when I can, please have patience!**

**I do not own Naruto, or enough time on my hands.**

* * *

Deidara scowled darkly as a small insect collided with his face. He was travelling quickly through the air on his large owl-shaped transport bird, having decided that speed was very much of the essence. The lazy afternoon sun glowered at him, almost trying to increase the anxiety he already felt as its heat caused beads of sweat to rise up on his brow before they were blown asunder by the wind whistling by his ears.

Wiping the remains of the unfortunate insect from his face with disgust, he clenched the scrap of black and red material tightly in his palm, eyes scanning the densely packed trees below for the earthy patch that marked the base. His eyes narrowed with satisfaction a he saw the trees give way to the training area as he leapt from the bird carrying him to the ground after a swift descent.

Deidara hit the ground running, literally, as he turned and watched as his clay transport bird descended, alighting by the cliff face, looking at him with those empty holes of eyes. He decided he might as well leave it here, seeing as he hoped he wouldn't be inside the base for too long, and after all, detonating clay wasn't cheap or easy to come by.

He approached the part of the wall that was hidden under the disguise jutsu and made the hand-seal that leader had specified to open the secret entrance. There was a deep 'clunk' somewhere from inside the lair beyond and the rocky surface of the entrance wavered like a hologram for a moment, before it disappeared to reveal the door handle. Deidara grasped it and slipped inside the base, shutting the door behind him as he entered.

His footsteps echoed through the twisting tunnels of the lair as he walked, eyes set and fists clenched. He knew what he had to do; he had to convince Leader to let him go back out into the field and rescue Tenten. He didn't know why he felt so resolute about this goal, but that one thing was certain. He didn't want her to be killed; during the few short days he had known the girl, he had come to admire her artistic flair and unique personality, her character unlike any other woman he'd known – and being an infamous and not to say an attractive criminal, he had gotten to know plenty of women.

"Deidara-sempai! You're back – I've been waiting for you!" chirped an all too familiar voice.

"Tobi you bastard!" Snarled Deidara as Tobi's cheerful greeting provided the spark to ignite his anger, "You up and left us you cowardly son of a -"

Tobi raised his hands defensively but too late as Deidara pinned him to the wall by his throat.

"Hey hey, sempai, I was just carrying out orders and reporting to Leader!" croaked the masked Akatsuki member as Deidara's hands tightened around his neck.

"You snivelling little…you didn't come back! It's your fault Tenten had to go in there alone!"

"Oooh, are you getting attached to that kunoichi a little then?"

"Argh, get out of my sight!" Deidara spat as he threw Tobi away from him, carrying on up the corridor, although stomping slightly more than he had been earlier.

"Wooow….Deidara-sempai sure is cranky." Tobi commented to himself, massaging his throat with one hand and pushing himself to his feet with the other.

* * *

"Wake up." Said the voice, "wake up, Tenten!"

Tenten blearily opened her eyes, having realised she had fallen into unconsciousness yet again. Mentally cursing for her carelessness, she blinked in the late afternoon sun as a fat bee hummed past her ear. The burn on her left arm felt slightly better, but whether she was just imagining it or the ointment had actually started to work she was unsure. The wound in her right arm however, was just as sore and throbbed painfully. She wondered nervously whether it had been infected.

Suddenly, she felt hands press against her back, steadying her as she tried to sit up. Tenten shied away from the touch automatically, realised with a groan that her hands and ankles were still tied.

"Don't be an idiot. You can't stand up on your own in this state." Neji sighed as he moved away from her, looking at the kunoichi with disdain.

He reached down and turned his attention to the bindings that held her ankles together. Tenten's look of venom dropped into one of curiosity as he undid the tight rope.

"What are you doing?" Tenten asked.

"What does it look like? You can't walk with you're ankles tied together now can you? You should, after all, be healed enough to walk on your own two feet by now."

_No thanks to you…_thought Tenten.

"Do you want me to help you up?" Neji asked.

"No. I can do it myself. I am an Akatsuki member after all; I think I can manage to stand up on my own." Tenten replied.

Neji narrowed his eyes and turned away in disgust.

"Then get a move on. We are close by the village now, so it will only be a short walk. Once we arrive you will remain in our team's custody, and will then be escorted to the medical sector of the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility to be properly treated, before you are handed over to the Torture and Interrogation force. The Hokage will then decide whether…you are to die or not." Neji explained.

Tenten's eyes searched his briefly for a second as the Hyuuga hesitated. She decided she must have been imagining things however, as his cold exterior mask was up once again.

"Very well." Tenten said, trying to make her voice sound resolute and confident despite the threat of, not only death, but perhaps worse; the Torture and Interrogation force.

Tenten struggled to her feet, realising how hard that simple action was when your hands were tied, and averted her eyes from Neji. She instead looked up at the azure sky above them, admiring the sepia tinge that foretold the coming of sunset. She cast her mind back to how it had felt flying through that sky, the wind caressing her face along with the rising and falling of wings below her.

"What are you staring at?" Neji asked.

"Nothing…" Tenten replied, bringing herself abruptly back to reality.

"Follow me, do not attempt to run away or we will be forced to kill you if necessary." Neji continued.

Tenten didn't reply, but followed him through the trunks of the towering pines that clawed out at the sky above. Presently, Lee and Guy joined them, walking a few feet behind Tenten as a sort of guard. Neither of them spoke, and the very air felt tense.

As they walked, Tenten kept her head high and proud, refusing to look weak or subdued to give her...enemies the satisfaction of knowing they had broken her – which they hadn't…yet. At every pace, the kunoichi's swift mind was working overtime to pick out any possible means of escape from her captors, although in her present state it was a hopeless pastime.

Ahead of them, the trees could clearly be seen to disperse to make way for the wide man-made road that lead up to the main gates of the Hidden Leaf Village, the only such main route that existed in these parts. It was empty, a fact for which Tenten was grateful, as she was dreading the looks she was certain to receive once entering the village.

The group turned onto the road, their footsteps softened into melody by lazy afternoon atmosphere. However, Tenten's mind was anything but lazy at that moment, as the looming gates in the distance were forming a pit of trepidation in her stomach. She wondered if this was how all missing-nin felt on their way to their execution, as to be honest, this was what she was facing after all.

As the once friendly gateway drew closer, Tenten fixed her gaze solidly on the back of Neji's head. The fabled 'Team Guy' would of course be heralded as they entered the village, much as they always were when Tenten had been a member, but the commotion when the people realised that one of its own had turned traitor would be unbearable.

The throbbing heat of the afternoon sun was dying slowly now, as it began to sink reluctantly down behind the distant mountains, chased by a hurried wind that had started blowing from the east. At least the cool breeze was helping a little to sooth the ache in her head.

As the shadow of the towering gateway passed over her, Tenten looked up once more, staring straight ahead, eyes set. She had chosen this path for herself, chosen Akatsuki rather than 'honourably' faced death, as Lee or Guy would have put it. She had felt wanted and needed in Akatsuki, demonstrated by how they chose such a difficult task for her as a rookie. However, the fact that she had pulled it off except this minor set-back gave her the flame of pride she needed to carry on. Ah well, at least she wouldn't be ignored anymore.

The shinobi guarding the gate, Kotetsu and Izumo, immediately leapt to their feet as the group of four passed them. Tenten didn't look at them, or even blink or show any recognition towards them at all. Kotetsu, the one who wore the strange band across his nose, dropped his eyes to the singed red clouds decorating Tenten's cloak, and then sprinted over to Guy.

"What is going on? Why is Tenten…"

"There has been a complication. I sent a messenger bird to the Hokage informing her of the details."

Guy's voice was clipped and revealed nothing, highly unlike the usual, what-you-see-is-what-you-get attitude he showed.

Tenten resisted the urge to yell; 'well if you had treated me as more of a useful member of the team rather than a target holder, I may not be in this position right now!' very loudly.

That was the way it was, she guessed. A 'complication' was how Guy had always seen her – not a wonderful, bright little star like Lee, or a mature and sensible yet equally as 'destined for greatness' Hyuuga.

"But why is Tenten...?"

"She deserted the Leaf-Village, what more is there to understand?" snapped Neji, a tone of impatience clear in his voice. However, he regained his cool, composed himself, and continued, "It will be dealt with, return to your post."

Tenten's skin crawled as they continued onwards through the streets, Neji ahead of her, Guy and Lee at her sides. The skin around her wrists under the tight rope felt raw and uncomfortable, but she ignored this, refusing to show any emotion on her pale face, some of which was still marked with soot. With her hair out of its characteristic buns, it was a wonder anyone even recognised her. However, it was clear from all of their faces that they all knew what the red splashes of colour on her cloak meant.

She had expected sneering and hissing and general hate to rain upon her from all side. This she received plenty of, but not as much as fear. For every person who yelled obscenities at her, there were those who shrank away into their houses, closing the windows as if she was the harbinger of bad luck.

A small boy, no older than five ran out across the road that had miraculously cleared to make way for her and her guard, staring up at the missing-nin, too naive innocent in the ways of the world to understand what she was. Within a few moments, the mother of the child ducked out of the building the boy had run from and scooped him into her arms, not looking up at Tenten before disappearing back to her home.

As they walked, the quiet crowd that made way for them closed behind them, returning to the busy, if slightly more subdued, market street it had been prior to their arrival.

* * *

"Leader…?" Deidara asked as he stepped into the Akatsuki leader's office, the door shutting behind him with a mournful creak.

"Pein is not here at this moment. What is it you want, Deidara?" asked a familiar feminine yet authoritative voice as Konan stepped into the light, her unreadable eyes…well…unreadable, as usual.

Deidara took a couple of steps closer, and it was clear from the sweat on his forehead and the way he was still breathing hard that he had run the last few stretches of corridors on his way there.

"Was the mission a success? From the news of Orochimaru I have heard in recent hours it sounds like it was." She continued.

"I…uh…"

"Where is your partner?"

Deidara licked his lips, wondering how he was going to break the news that Tenten had gone missing, but not died, and had been captured by an unknown enemy and taken who knew where…

"She escaped from Orochimaru, having completed her task, that I am sure of, but I don't know where she is now." He said.

"But how do you know she is still alive?" Konan asked.

Deidara held up his hand, the scrap of black and red material lying limply in his palm, sooty and burnt yet obviously Akatsuki.

"I found this en route back here to the base. I want to request, seeing as I am granted some time of leave after completing the last mission, that I can return to the place I found this and try to track her whereabouts." Deidara said.

"We can't rule out the possibility that she used the situation as an opening to run away from the organisation." Konan pointed out.

"In which case, it is necessary that I be sent to…kill her so that she doesn't reveal any of our secrets. However, I'm sure that isn't the case. Konan – you saw her face as I did when she cut through the symbol of the Leaf Village on her headband. She knew what she was doing and came willingly to us." Deidara said, his voice softening slightly towards the end of his speech.

"It's funny…I've never heard you use that tone of voice before, Deidara." Konan said after a pause.

"What are you talking about?" Deidara asked defensively.

"You feel something for Tenten, don't you?"

"That's ridiculous! I regard her as a skilled and useful comrade!"

"And yet you've never shown this consideration for Sasori – a skilled and useful comrade."

"Look, can I go after her or not?"

"It is your rightful leave of absence for completing a mission…I care not how you chose to spend it."

Deidara didn't pause to thank the blue-haired kunoichi as he turned, out of the office in less than a moment. As he strode through the winding corridors, heading for the exit, he suddenly thought to himself; had he seen a knowing smile on Konan's lips as he departed?


	15. Rings of Deepest Scarlet

**Chapter fifteen!**

**Ibiki is going to be a tough one to write for seeing as he's not in the manga or anime that much…ah well, I shall do my best!**

**I do not own Naruto, but I do own a homemade Deidara plush.**

* * *

Tenten looked up at the sky again as the ripples of crimson and violet from the sinking sun danced across it. The sticky heat of the sun was quickly fading all around them as a cool evening breeze ruffled the dishevelled strands of Tenten's hair.

They had been walking through the village for a while now, making slow progress due to Tenten's condition. No one spoke to her, and the people that didn't avert their eyes hastily as she passed stared at her with disgust and malice. She tried to look determined and indifferent to those around her, including Neji, Lee and Guy, but this façade was quickly fading.

The cloudless sky was beginning to become blanketed in clouds as the evening dragged on, each minute like an eternity. Tenten had never remembered Konoha to be this big. She guessed it was down to the pain she felt all over her body with each step she took. Most of it wasn't down to any of her physical injuries, but was a result of her immense fatigue and exhaustion.

The snatches of unconsciousness she had taken earlier hadn't nearly been enough to sustain her for this long without consequence, especially seeing as she had had to walk a long way.

The cool, light breeze began to pick up until it whipped strands of Tenten's let down hair into her eyes. She shook her head briefly; soon regretting the action as it made her head pound all the more.

The densely packed houses of the main living area of Konoha began to become sparser, until there were no more houses or shops altogether. Tenten knew that the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility was a little distance from the main village. Oddly enough, she had never actually been there in her life before, despite bringing in criminals often enough with her old team. She imagined tall grey walls, sparse cells and iron bars; the exact opposite of her favourite place – dull, claustrophobic and featureless.

In her seventeen years, the kunoichi had learnt the Hidden Leaf Village like the back of her hand – all apart from this remote area a the base of the mountainside where the prison lay.

She had lived alone much of her life after all, her parents having disappeared before she could remember them – she didn't even have a second name for goodness sake. She had been raised by her grandmother who passed away while Tenten had still been quite young. In this sense, she sympathised with Naruto a little, as like her he had provided for himself for a long time.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea passed over Tenten, and she hunched over, clenching her head in her hands as a spasm of pain rocked her body. Her headache was worse than ever, and she felt like she was about to throw up.

"Nnnnn….." She whimpered in a strained voice, so unlike her usual tone that Neji looked around in alarm – even the two silent green beasts looked taken aback.

Tenten shuddered and sank to her knees, no longer able to support her weight. The exhaustion that she had tried to put at bay all afternoon overcame her and she collapsed forward, hitting the dusting ground with a 'thud'. Perspiration stood out on her forehead as she tried once to push herself back onto her feet before crumpling once more and blacking out.

Neji turned and kneeled down by her limp form, sighing and sliding his arms underneath her before picking her up. She was surprisingly light. He averted his eyes from her pale face as her head flopped lifelessly back, looking instead at Lee and Guy.

"I'll carry her from here." He said.

* * *

Deidara cursed as he ran a hand through his long blonde hair, casting around for any further signs of Tenten, or the route her captors could have taken. He had flown back the place in which he had discovered the scrap of her Akatsuki cloak, attached to a claw-like twig.

Thinking ahead, he had left a small clay spider attached to the branch earlier, so that he could track and pin-point the exact location. Deidara now looked around, frustrated, as he tried to spot anything else out of the ordinary that would indicate the enemy had passed through recently.

In the off chance, he glanced absently back at the twig he had found the material attached to. Leaning closer, he could see that it was bent, pointing west. It had been caused by the group brushing past, no doubt. With a grin, the blonde shinobi knew that this was his first pointer.

However, if he was to find any more of these clues, he would have to abandon flying over the forest and travel through it, retracing the path of Tenten's captors if he was going to find any means of tracking them accurately.

Deidara set off, leaping between the branches like he had done with Tenten no so long ago. The thought just increased his determination to find and retrieve her, whether she wanted to be found and retrieved or not. He picked up speed, feet barely touching the branches before he was off again; long black and red cloak billowing out behind him.

Suddenly, he stopped dead as something caught his attention. A faint scent on the air…barely anything but still there. He took a step back on the branch he was standing on, trying to catch it again. There it was…an unmistakable smell of a camp fire. He looked down, noticing he stood in a tree bordering some sort of clearing. In the centre of the clearing, the ground looked…different somehow. Deidara leapt down to the ground, wincing as his ankles protested violently, and walked over to the strange area of forest floor. It was disturbed. He extended a hand and pawed a little through the leaf litter, before he grinned in triumph. Pieces of charred wood and ash lay just below the surface. Evidently, someone had made camp here not that long ago and tried to cover their tracks – if somewhat hastily.

The blonde criminal walked around the clearing slowly, taking in every detail. He crouched down next to the thick truck of a tree, assessing it with a critical eye. The fibres of the bark had been chafed by something, a rope perhaps? In some places, flacks of back had been torn off by something. Clearly, someone had been tied up here.

Unless he was very much mistaken, Tenten's captors had been here. Deidara's blood boiled. They had tied her to a tree. Of all the insults to her, he could think of few more humiliating. No one should even have dared to do that to her…well…apart from himself of course. He then checked himself, calming his thoughts. He smiled; was he getting possessive over that little kunoichi now?

He stood up straight again, staring off into the gathering darkness of the forest, here and there the shafts of golden sunset light piercing the gloom, illuminating the many clouds of tiny insects as they swirled around one-another. If he just continued in this direction, he was sure to find another camp site like this one sooner or later, and from there he could predict where Tenten's captors were heading. After all, the route they had taken so far could have led to any number of villages and towns around the area – he needed more verification before he embarked on a full scale rescue mission.

The cool breeze began to strengthen until it became a draught of wind, ruffling his honey blonde hair so that it flew into his face and obscured his vision. Frustrated, he crossed the clearing and within a short space of time was once more up in the thick branches, making his way – if a little more carefully than before – through the boughs, searching doggedly for his next pointer.

* * *

The sterile white light glared down at Tenten accusatorially as the kunoichi in question opened one eye. For a moment, she thought she was back in the Akatsuki medical room, and wondered whether she hadn't been captured by her former team-mates after all but had dreamed it all whilst unconscious from her time spent at Orochimaru's base.

Unfortunately, as her eyes became used to the harsh light and she looked around, her heart sank. The room was painted plain white, back there were stains and marks here and there on the walls.

There were no windows to the outside world, and very minimal furnishings in the room, apart from one cupboard, a sink, and the bed on which she lay. The bed in question had a plain metal frame, the metal dull in some areas, and white sheets. Someone had dressed her in a basic white top and trousers, but her hair was the same – if not worse – than it had been earlier.

She was alone in the room, but as her eyes travelled around the space, she noticed that one wall was mostly taken up by a large glass sheet through which she could see into another room. This separate space was also empty, but she could see the backs of heart rate monitors and cabinets that she guessed were stocked with medical supplies and ointment.

As she swung her legs over the edge of her small bed, she looked down and noticed both her arms had been re-bandaged, all the way down to her fingers. She could smell the pungent burn ointment the medic must have applied and wrinkled her nose.

She stood carefully up, cautious not to put to much weight on one side incase she didn't have the strength to support herself. Allowing herself a small smile, she found she could stand quite easily, and walked once around the bland room before seating herself once more on the bed. The bare bulb that provided the room with that sterile light was humming softly, the only noise in the room.

Tenten stood once more, pleased that her strength felt like it was already starting to return, and crossed over to the small sink and mirror in the corner. She kneeled in front of it, and sighed at the mess that was her hair. Someone had wiped the soot and blood from her face, and her pale skin contrasted with the dark brunette tangles. With yet another sigh, she decided that since she didn't feel too much like sleeping and no-one was coming to see her, she might as well try to sort the mess out.

The kunoichi ran some of the cold water from the single tap, and slowly the basin filled up. She then bent over and scrubbed her hair thoroughly in the water, wincing with disgust as soot, mud and dried blood discoloured the liquid. After she repeated this a few times, and was happy enough with her hair, she stood back and shook her head like a puppy, drops of water flying everywhere. She then walked over to the bed once more, took one of the white sheets and used it to dry her hair, the domestic activity serving to calm her frenzied thoughts somewhat. She was definitely no Ino when it came to personal appearance; never have cared much about it, but it felt nice to be grime-free.

Tenten then tore two long and thin strips out of the white – and now rather damp – sheet, each about twenty centimetres long. She then bundled up the lengths of her hair into the two buns that were her customary style, tying them secure with her two new 'ribbons'. She had never been that concerned with her appearance, unlike Sakura and Ino. In that sense, she was far more of a tomboy than either of them – after all, she spent much more of her free time training herself and spent her money on weapons and polish rather than shampoo or beauty products.

What would happen to her now? Would she be taken to Ibiki and the rest of his squad and have her memories forcibly extracted? She had never seen how the Interrogation force had rifled through peoples minds, but from the impression she had got of Ibiki all that time ago from the Chunin exams, she anticipated that it would be very painful.

Tenten suddenly looked around as there came the unmistakable sound of a door opening. Somebody had come into the room next to hers – the one separated from her by the large glass window. It was clearly a medic ninja, judging by the general attire, and Tenten looked at them, making her face go blank.

The medic looked at her coolly and lifted a small hatch in the middle of the door that led from the room behind the glass into hers. He put his mouth to the small opening and said:

"You are needed now. Here are some clothes you can wear – I'll slide them under the hatch at the bottom of the door."

Tenten looked down as another hatch that reminded her of a cat-flap opened at the bottom of her door and pair of a plain black trousers and top were pushed through.

"I will wait outside. Knock on the door when you are ready and I will escort you to the interrogation Squad. I reiterate that there are many armed shinobi patrolling this end of the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, who will not hesitate to kill you on sight if you try to run." He continued, before turning and leaving the joined rooms.

Tenten looked at the new set of clothes, recognising them to be the standard prison uniform. She changed slowly into them, her heart hammering in her chest as she thought about what was to come.

She didn't want anybody intruding into her mind. She didn't want them to know about her bitter resentment towards the village, her old feelings for Neji, or her involvement with Akatsuki…with Deidara. She shook her head, wondering why her thoughts had slipped to him in particular. The feelings she had used to hold for her Hyuuga team-mate burned brightly as she thought about the blonde criminal she had known only a few days. She remembered his laugh, how they casually fought with one another his…no. She was definitely NOT thinking about that. She shuddered as she realised that Ibiki might unearth this irrational desires.

Having changed into her dull black attire, she knocked once on the door, her voice catching in her throat as she tried to use it.

"I'm ready." She said.


	16. Tracking

**Chapter sixteen.**

**I apologize for the super-lateness of this chapter, but now my studies are over, I will try my absolute best to upload a chapter per week on the Friday. However, I may not be able to stick to this all of the time, so please have patience with me!**

**I have changed the Konoha prison a little from in the anime because it looked to far-fetched – but since it only appeared once in a filler anyway, I don't think it matters.**

**I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

Tenten's captors had evidently tried pretty hard to hide their progress from would-be pursuers, that much was certain. At least one of their number had to have a decent head on their shoulders, Deidara thought to himself as he cursed to himself, looking around. He had to admit it; he was lost. The fact that his enemies had managed to lay a false trail deceivingly enough that it had succeeded in completely fooling him was commendable in itself.

Usually, he would have just retraced his steps and started over, but this stupid false trail had kept him going for over a whole day, and he had completely lost his idea of where he had previously been heading. The forest looked the same in every direction; an interminable see of deep green and dull brown. It had been hours since he had even seen a road or trail.

Frustrated and tired, the blonde shinobi turned and started heading in the direction he had come in, trying to remember the many twists and turns in this endless forest that the false trail had lead him on.

One hour later, standing in another featureless forest clearing, Deidara turned and kicked the nearest tree with a snarl. He was getting no-where and was getting increasingly irritated and desperate. He chances of finding where Tenten had been taken were dwindling by the minute, and he was lost in this infernal maze of trees, with no idea where he could be or even what time it was.

He looked up at the patch of sky that managed to look down at the centre of the clearing, an oasis of light in the perpetual green cloak of the forest. The sun was starting to dip below the horizon, but there were none of the vibrant colours of yesterday's sunset; the sinking sun was shrouded in an escort of dark clouds that turned the world grey. Deidara certainly felt grey. He wanted his kunoichi back; he had to admit that to himself.

The criminal flinched as a drop of rain suddenly hit his nose, making him jump with alarm. He took some steps backwards so that he stood back under the cover of the main tree on his branch as more raindrops began to fall. Of course, the foliage surrounding him shielded him from most of the shower, but the patch of ground in the clearing was quickly becoming a quagmire as the rain became heavier.

"Just my luck, hm? What a cliché…" Deidara growled under his breath.

Soon, the leaves were not enough to stop the rain from reaching the forest below, in fact, it all but made it worse as great drops of water collected on the leaps and then fell down to soak whoever was unfortunate enough to be caught out in the downpour. Deidara gritted his teeth in irritation as a particularly large and cold drop of water fell down the back of his neck.

This was useless. This rain that was getting heavier by the second would wash away any markers of his targets that still remained. However, if he gave up now, he would loose both his pride and his new team-mate, and neither appealed much to him. No, he wouldn't stop looking, not now.

* * *

Tenten closed her eyes as the door clanged in a metallic fashion behind her. She went through all of the exercises she had been taught when still part of the village – how to keep yourself calm in a battle situation; slow breathing, clearing the mind, that kind of thing. If she was going to undergo torture, she would do so with dignity.

A cold breeze brushed her pale face as she opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. It was clouded over and grey in such a way that it was difficult to tell where cloud ended and sky began. From the heavy and oppressing feel of the air, she could tell that rain was on its way.

She looked behind her at the gun-metal grey door that had closed behind her. It belonged to a sprawling building of only one floor, the same dull shade all over. It was the medical unit she had woken up in not long ago.

A chain of similar buildings were sprawled around it, probably serving the same purpose. She felt a lot less exhausted, and could actually feel her strength trickling back to her muscles, her alertness also returning.

However, there was no way the brunette kunoichi was even pondering trying to escape at the moment. She stumbled as the thick chain attached to her tried wrists was yanked suddenly and she was pulled forwards. Tenten scowled in irritation, but quickened her pace.

She was surrounded by four anbu black-ops, their masked faces turned away from her. Once of these held the other end of her chain and was waling a couple of paces in front of her. The medic ninja who had seen to her wounds had disappeared.

The Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, in which she was now contained, was quite a distance from the main village, set in the mountain-like hills beyond the rim of the cliffs that enclosed the town. In some places, long bridges connected the building because of sudden ravines or dips between buildings. As Tenten looked up, she could see the dark shape of a far larger building in the distance; the site of her interrogation. She felt sick and her stomach hurt. Her skin crawled as she thought of how she may be about to be tortured in such a short amount of time. She was like a hare; ready to bolt at any second.

The particular bridge over which she was walking was wide and sturdy, yet seemed as if it was made of cardboard to Tenten in her jumpy state. She suddenly found herself wondering if she could break free of her captors long enough to throw herself off of the side of the bridge and end it then and there. No. She had more pride than that. She would free herself, she knew it – somehow.

There was no sound other than the steady pace of bother her own footsteps, the footsteps of her guards and the continual clinking of the chain that was attached to her bound wrists. The metallic sound was starting to grate against Tenten's temper.

Time passed too quickly. It seemed like they had reached the tall door to the Interrogation building in less than a few seconds. It was made from smooth metal, featureless just like most of the other doors and buildings in the place. The guard holding the chain stepped forwards and knocked twice before taking another step. The sound resonated through the air, doing nothing to calm Tenten's agitation. A single drop of rain hit Tenten's pale cheek as the sun disappeared from view below the hills.

"The Akatsuki member is here, Ibiki." The guard said.

From the other side of the door came a voice that was harsh and weathered by years of suffering. It sounded like its owner was talking whilst trying to gargle with gravel.

"We are ready for them. Bring it in and leave."

* * *

Deidara could barely hear himself think. The downpour had worsened into a veritable monsoon, and he had been forced to travel on the ground as the branches above had become slippery, especially the ones covered in algae and moss.

Visibility was also poor, as the wall of rain meant that the darkening forest that had already been hard to see through was doubly as dire. Deidara's hair that usually hung over his eye was plastered to his face, and his long robes were sticking uncomfortably to his body. However, Deidara remained glad of the fact he had especially purchased waterproof bags to hold his detonating clay.

The criminal shinobi leant back against a tree for a moment. He had been running for a long time now, and had seen nothing of any use whatsoever in his hunt of Tenten's captors. The whole notion seemed more hopeless than ever in this bleak situation.

The darkness of the forest was all around him, and the sound of the pounding rain was all he could hear. Or was it? Deidara stood up straight and looked up, his expression suddenly sharp with concentration.

What was that sound?

_Thud thud, thud thud, thud thud, thud thud…_

Deidara slid behind the nearest tree in the blink of an eye as he realised what it was. At least one person was coming his way, running by the sound of the footfalls. By now he could also start to hear voices as well. He dared to look around from his hiding place so he could just about see who it was.

Two shinobi stood before him, facing one another and evidently arguing. The rain was too thick for him to work out what village they were from by checking the insignia on the headband. Even the colour of their uniforms had been drained by the darkness of the evening and the relentless grey of the rain.

"I tell you, I can't believe they sent us out in this weather…"

"Yeah, but someone's got to be a messenger haven't they? After all, they can't send birds in this weather. Besides, if we get a reward, it will be worth it right?"

"I don't know…I just wish this blasted rain would stop. Urgh, the waters got into my boots!"

Deidara observed the argument with a lazy smile as some of his old gusto returned. Perfect. He drew away a few metres and reached into the bags at his hip for some clay. The rain would stint its effectiveness, but it should still have the desired effect. The two shinobi appeared to have stopped for provisions for the moment, so this was an ideal opportunity. He looked down at his palms as they coughed up a pair of identical white spiders. His lips cracked into a wide grin and his eyes narrowed as he set them both on the ground, watching as they scuttled away into the rain towards the shinobi.

Deidara pulled himself up into the boughs of a tree close to the pair, careful not to slip on the wet branches. Here he sat still to watch the events unfold. The blob-like white shapes moved closer to the shinobi, but diverged at the last moment, instead scuttling up the trunk of the tree closest to the larger of the pair.

They were still talking animatedly with one another, and due to the rain and the poor visibility did not notice the spiders as they crawled out along the branch above the larger one. Deidara was only able to see what was going on because of the scope on his eye. He kept one hand above it to stop raindrops getting onto the delicate lens, smoothing his sopping fringe with the other hand so it was out of the way.

There was a swish, and a wet sounding thud.

"What the hell? There's something on my face! Get it off!" Burst out the larger shinobi, surging to his feet and pawing in vain at the spider that had clamped its legs around his face.

The man yelled as the other spider also dropped from its branch and hit him, also wrapping itself around his head. He staggered, flailing his eyes desperately, shouting all sorts of profanities at the top of his voice. His partner seemed too stunned to move.

"Help me! Get these monsters off me dammit!" He continued, his voice cracking.

Deidara frowned and his eyes narrowed as his brought his hands up to his face and formed a hand sign.

"How dare you. Monsters? They are true art, philistine! Just let me show you! KATSU!" Deidara yelled.

Before the shinobi could react, there was a blinding flash of light that lit up the twilit forest, penetrating every shadow of darkness despite the rain. There was a blast that shook the tree in which Deidara sat to the point he ad to grab the branch above in order to stop himself falling. There was less heat and fire than usual, but clouds of smoke billowed from the point of detonation as the shock wave shook the area.

Deidara grinned maniacally, despite the fact that his face and the trees in the immediate area were all spattered with crimson blood that stood out even in the raining grey of the rainstorm. He leapt down from his tree and strode over to the cloud of smoke that was now disappearing from the site of the explosion.

The corpse of the unfortunate shinobi at which the blast had been centred was crumpled backwards over a fallen log. Most of it below the chest was more of less intact, but other than that it wasn't a pretty site. Deidara guessed he might have overdone the chakra level, but that was probably down to the fact he wasn't in a good mood.

The rain mingled with the crimson of the blood staining the surroundings until pink drips ran down the bark of the trees in the area, forming scarlet puddles on the muddy ground. Patches of Deidara's golden hair were dyed ruby, the colour running in tracks down his face as well. A small lake of blood had collected in the crater formed by the explosion from the corpse.

Deidara stopped surveying the destruction when he heard a sound from behind him. The clink of metal reached his ears through the downpour just in time for him to spin around as quick as a whip to intercept the incoming blow. Deidara's kunai clashed against the smaller shinobi's, the piercing sound ringing through the air.

"Oh yes, I had forgotten about you, hmm?" Deidara said with a sinister smile.

"DIE, AKATSUKI!" roared the shinobi in a voice that was shaking with a mixture of grief and anger over the brutal death of his comrade.

Deidara could see that the man had also been injured by the explosion. There were burns on his arms and face and blood ran down his face, but his head-band was intact.

"Konoha, huh?" Deidara said.

The shinobi ignored him and swung his kunai in a wild arc at Deidara. The criminal dodged easily, countering with a strong blow to his opponent's solar plexus. His anger was making the Leaf ninja slow and careless. As he stumbled backwards from Deidara's hit, the blonde in question spun and landed a powerful kick to the man's stomach that sent him flying. He hit the tree behind him hard and slid down to the blood soaked mud, groaning.

With a wide grin, Deidara flung the kunai in his had at the man. It his shoulder squarely and the shinobi yelled in pain as it pinned him to the tree.

He then walked imperiously forward, standing above the Leaf shinobi as the rain poured down all around him. His long wet hair was blowing around freely in the strengthening wind as he crouched, gripping the enemy's throat and shoving his head against the tree at his back.

"And now Konoha ninja, you are going to tell me if you've seen a friend of mine." Deidara murmured.


	17. A truly Artistic Demise

**Chapter seventeen.**

**I'm considering going back and naming all of the chapters….if you think I should, let me know. I probably will anyway. Anywho, please read, enjoy and review! The more decent reviews I get, the more motivated I am to continue!**

**I, as always, own nothing of Naruto.**

* * *

A momentary glimmer of silver passed over Deidara's shadowed features as the cloud cover broke for a moment. The blonde quickly glanced at the sky as the light was once more extinguished. The rain was however starting to ease off, if only slightly. He looked down and turned his attention back to his new friend.

The Leaf shinobi attempted to shrink away but let out a gasp of pain as the kunai pinning his shoulder to the tree at his bag cut deeper into the muscle.

"So, do you feel like cooperating yet, hmm?" Deidara asked.

"Rot in hell, Akatsuki scum!" Spat the shinobi.

"I don't think you understand the situation…" Deidara said lazily.

He then reached out and took the handle of the kunai in one hand before twisting it viciously. The man before him yelled as fresh blood welled up and ran in rivulets down his arm.

"I…won't sell out…my village…"

"Look, I don't want you to tell me your village's secrets or anything, I just want to know if you've seen a party moving through they area carrying a hostage. A young woman in her late teens – Akatsuki."

The shinobi's brows creased for a moment, as if he was deciding whether to give away any information or not. At another twist of the kunai, he cried out.

"Alright! I…didn't see anyone in the forest, but I heard that a rogue shinobi girl was brought into my village for execution, that's all! I'm just a messenger, I know no more…!"

Deidara straightened up, looking down at the mess of a man before him. He then turned and began to walk away. The Leaf village? She was there…awaiting execution. He was damned if he was going to let that happen to his kunoichi, the very thought made him clench his hands into fists. He then paused, and looked back over his shoulder.

"Thank you." He said as he smirked and swept away into the night, cloak flowing with a strange sort of fluidity behind him.

The Leaf shinobi pinned to the tree looked up.

"You're…not going to kill me?" He whispered to himself.

His gaze dropped to the ground where he noticed a disturbance in the leaf litter as something slid out and wrapped around his arm. It was small, resembling a thin pure white snake with bottomless black pits for eyes…

Some way away, Deidara broke into a laugh as the rumble of an explosion reverberated through the forest. The rain was finally beginning to ease off now, the faint glimmers of moonlight permeating the cloud cover and trickling through the wet leaves to illuminate the forest floor. Deidara's spirits rose as he grinned. He had a heading, whether the girl the messenger had mentioned was the right one or not, he couldn't care less. It would be some time until he could travel through the branches again as they were still slippery from the rain, but with the relaxing of the rain and a cool breeze at his back, everything suddenly seemed a lot more hopeful.

* * *

The rain was increasing in volume as Tenten stood outside the door to the interrogation room, huge freezing drops that slashed over her face and body, soaking her to the skin in seconds. She absently wondered where the downpour had come from, after all, the sky had been veritably clear the past couple of days...apart from that night of course. She shivered as the cold started to get through to her, knowing that if she was going to stand the torture without releasing any information. A good way to succeed would be to fill her head with meaningless thoughts that she could concentrate on.

There came a small 'click' as the door was unlocked. This wait was probably intended, as she had heard that Ibiki tended to favour mental tortures rather than inflicting physical pain. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't. Her guards pushed Tenten through the now open door into the room beyond with a force that caused the kunoichi to stumble. She regained her balance before she fell and looked over her shoulder as the door swung shut with a resounding slam.

Before she could gather her thoughts, thick ropes flicked out from the floor and walls and bound her tightly to the point she was virtually covered in a cocoon of ropes. She looked up with gritted teeth as several members of the interrogation force walked forwards, picking up the ends of the ropes so she could have no hope of escape.

Her arms were pinned to her sides and balancing was suddenly made much more difficult. She let out a grunt as some-one kicked her in the back, causing her to fall forwards onto her knees, her eyes screwed up in pain.

Tenten looked up, her eyes full of murderous fire into the lined face of Ibiki. She's forgotten how much she hated this guy – she's felt loathing for him ever since she had first set eyes upon him at the chunin exams. His eyes were unreadable, impassive and yet as cold as ice. Tenten stared right back with an equally cold glower.

"Disgusting." Ibiki commented, nose wrinkling in disdain. "Disgusting to think that a member of my own village would defect to Akatsuki. Executing the likes of you is too kind."

The hulking man began to circle Tenten like a shark. The kunoichi kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, declining to make any expression that said she'd even heard his words.

"So, tired of failing to make the grade in Konoha, you left and joined a rogue organisation for power, am I right?"

Tenten remained silent.

"I asked you a question, Akatsuki." Ibiki snarled, his face coming too close to Tenten for her to stand.

She stared at him for a moment before lashing out, managing to head butt him hard, squarely in the face. The head of the interrogation force reeled back, his hand flying to his heavily bleeding nose.

With a snarl, he lifted a clenched fist and swiped at Tenten, striking her across her face with a force that almost knocked her over despite her bonds. She slowly looked up again; her eyes welled up with tears of rage and pain that she was too proud to shed. Agonising pain spread through her face, and although she knew nothing had broken by some miracle, she would have one hell of a black eye and bruising down her cheekbone.

"Sir...the Hokage's orders..." Said one of the guards nervously.

"Yes, I know, but I'm sure she'll forgive me for that. Besides, we only need her mind to be intact for us to be able to extract the information wee need." Ibiki replied gruffly, striding away with his back to Tenten.

"Bring the Akatsuki to the circle." He continued.

The guards holding Tenten's ropes moved forward as one, Tenten struggling to her feet walking with them – seeing as there really was no alternative at this moment. In the centre of the sparsely decorated room was a low dome-like structure, on which was an indent big enough for a human to lie in. Around this was a ring with four stations spread evenly around it, one for each interrogator.

Tenten was pulled forcibly to the centre, when the guards pushed her down into the indent in the middle. She struggled but was easily thwarted in her attempts to escape by her captors. They must have given her a chakra suppressing drug or something whilst she was unconscious the night before. Before she could think up another route of escape of any way to fight, paper seals were attached to her hands and ankles, and all movement to her limbs was simultaneously cut off. She guessed these bonds had probably been developed by Tsunade or Shizune, as they were evidently imbued with medical nin-jutsu.

"If I had my way, we'd do things the traditional way. The correct amount of pain and even the strictest will spill their guts. However, on special appeal by the Hokage, we have been ordered to use the rather more mundane method. We will search your memories directly."

Tenten's eyes opened as his words registered. What on earth? Tsunade had order for her not to be tortured? Why ever would the Hokage have requested that...unless it hadn't been her request...? She struggled to lift her head so she could fix Ibiki with a stare conveying her confusion.

"Oh yes, the word is that somebody appealed to Lady Fifth, pleading for your sentence to be lightened. Whoever they were doesn't seem to understand the word criminal. In any case, that's enough from me. I believe it's time we started learning some more about you. Hokaku – the seal."

Tenten struggled, her neck straining, but it was no use. The guard called Hokaku placed another of the paper seals over her forehead, attaching either end to the dome structure either side of her.

"Inoichi, are you ready?" Ibiki asked, turning.

Tenten recognised that name – Inoichi was Ino Yamanaka's father. Tenten had never been that fond of Ino, being exasperated by her pretentiousness and ridiculous obsession with looking perfect. As if looks should matter to a shinobi.

She tried to move her head, but now that this new seal had been laid across her forehead she couldn't even more her neck. She closed her eyes tight, preparing for the worst. As she mentally steeled herself, she suddenly remembered what Ibiki had said. Somebody had appealed to the Hokage, asking for her sentence to be lightened? She knew no-one who would do such a thing, particularly now she was a rogue shinobi.

She could hear from the footsteps that both her guards and Ibiki were moving away from her, and she guessed that they were taking position around the circle, surrounding her. Her eye and left side of her face was throbbing painfully, but she tried to ignore it, doing her best to stay as calm as possible. All she was sure of was that she must try as hard as possible to keep her mind blank and not think if Akatsuki, particularly Deidara. She didn't want him to be dragged into this.

"On three, I will commence the jutsu. This requires absolute concentration from all of you, so don't start until I give the word." Inoichi said, his deep voice clearly audible throughout the chamber.

"We're ready when you are." Replied Ibiki.

"One."

Tenten's breathing quickened in her chest, despite her desperate attempts to calm herself. She had to admit she was afraid, more so than she had been fighting Deidara and more so than she had met her first Akatsuki member.

"Two"

A cold sweat had broken out on Tenten's brow. It irritated her and just heightened her anxiety, wishing she could just wipe it away. She hated being bound like this; completely helpless. Her chin was forced back by the bonds across her forehead and all of her limbs were impossible to move.

"Three."

A blinding pain overwhelmed Tenten's senses, searing, piercing, like a hot iron was being pressed onto her brain. She tried to yell, but her mouth had gone dry and no sound would form itself in her throat. She could almost feel her captors trying to gain entry to her mind, like daggers being forced into her skull. She wanted it to stop, to be anywhere else than here, and for a moment, she felt just like a frightened child once more.

The pain became more intense as she started to see flickers of the past few days replay in super-fast speed through her mind. The light was so bright and painful, and yet when she closed her eyes it wouldn't go away. It wasn't long before she passed out.

* * *

A few hours had passed since Deidara's encounter with the leaf shinobi, and he had since then put a considerable distance between them and himself. From where he was now, it would be only a few more miles until he arrived at his destination; The Village hidden in the Leaves.

He knew that there were bound to be wards and protective jutsu placed around the village so that if somebody entered, the intruder would at once be detected and forces would be sent out to hunt for them. However, even if he was detected, as long as he made sure to lie low once inside the village, he would be alright. Besides, he regarded his artistry as far superior to any jutsu the enemy might wield.

Having decided the trees had dried out sufficiently, he was once again leaping through the thick branches at top speed, having decided that it was definitely to risky to travel via his clay transport bird in case somebody from the village spotted him.

Midnight was quickly approaching now, and the clouds had disappeared finally to reveal the opalescent moon in its heights. It was nearly a full moon, although not quite, and the pale light was illuminating his path clearly ahead of him. However, this did have a disadvantage in that it would mean that the enemy would be able to spot him easily.

After a few more minutes, he paused, standing close to the trunk of the tree in which he stood. He could hear voices coming from below him, and was just quick enough to make his chakra undetectable before the patrol passed.

He had predicted that he would meet with various Leaf patrols when he got to within a few miles of the village, but all the same was relieved that he hadn't been forced to engage in combat this early on. He would need to reserve his chakra for when his real mission of rescuing Tenten began. It was highly likely that he would have to fight off many of the guards at wherever she was being held, assuming that she would be in no state to fight for herself.

After moving continuously for about ten minutes, avoiding patrols as he did so, Deidara found himself at the base of the main wall that encircled the village. It was a solid structure, and he knew it would take a lot of chakra to permeate, but it was still well within his capabilities.

The S-rank criminal looked up at the sky, wondering idly where Tenten was at that moment, and if she was even still alive. When he thought about it, the whole thing seemed like a suicidal, stupid idea. He didn't know why he felt that urge to rescue his kunoichi, but there was one thing he was sure of. If they had hurt her, they were in for a truly artistic demise.

* * *

**Oh, and I've decided t****hat from now on, I'm going to update on a Friday, once per week. The only reason I'm uploading chapter seventeen today is because I won't have access to my laptop tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!**


	18. The Hanged Man

**Chapter eighteen.**

**I'm sorry if this chapter isn't up to the standard of the others I have written – I've been feeling lousy this week and had had a killer cold, so my brain isn't functioning quite as I'd like at the moment!**

**Naruto does not belong to me!**

* * *

An hour had passed since his arrival at the outer wall to Konoha, but being the strategist that he was, Deidara had made sure to take care over his plans to enter the highly secure village. He knew that protective dome that surrounded the place would instantly detect him as soon as he broke through or entered over the top of the wall anywhere apart from the main gates, so he had made preparations that would give him the best chance of getting in without being caught within a few minutes.

The squeak of a small nocturnal mammal made him jump as he knelt down the place the last of his bombs. He was unnaturally jumpy for his usual laid-back self tonight, but that was probably because he was about to undertake one of the most dangerous missions of his life, ironically, entirely by choice for once.

Midnight had passed now, and the cloud cover that had starved the light earlier had disappeared to leave a clear, star-speckled sky and an almost full moon. Not ideal conditions for a stealth mission. The rain would have been better; it would have covered his tracks at least.

Deidara took a step back and smirked at his handiwork. It had taken him a long time, but he was finally ready to enter the Hidden Leaf Village. He lifted his hands and formed a hand-sign, sensing the resulting resonation of all of the bombs he had planted. The small spider-like sculpture before him crawled fluidly forward and about six feet up the concrete wall, as did about twenty others strategically placed at equal distances from each other around the rest of the wall's circumference.

The criminal had spent the last hour slowly working his way around the perimeter, avoiding the routine patrols in order to place this network of explosives. It had required all of his patience, but he was sure it would allow him to enter, not undetected, but they would cover him. When the bombs went off simultaneously all around the wall, they would all punch holes just large enough for a man to enter the village. They would also realise a burst of chakra at the same time, thus creating at least twenty possible points at which an intruder could have got in, therefore spreading out the search teams and making Deidara's life one hell of a lot easier.

From there the plan was simple; lie low and keep to the alleys and back streets until he could get out of the main part of the village and could find his way to the prison area. After that, he would just have to locate Tenten's cell, wherever that may be, and break her out before getting out of the village, knocking out any pursuers with force if he had to.

However, at this moment, his first and foremost goal was just to enter successfully. Deidara took a couple of steps backward, away from the blast that was soon to follow. Once he was a safe distance away, he made one more hand-seal and his eyes became sharp with concentration.

"KATSU!"

The explosion rumbled through the ground as the flash of brilliant orange through to hot white billowed out from the blast's epicentre.

He lifted an arm quickly to shield his eyes from the heat and light that subsequently followed, the shock-waves from the detonation making the ground shake and the blastoff air making his hair blow crazily around his face.

That was it. It was now or never. Looking once left and right to check that the patrols weren't already on their way, Deidara took off through the gap in the feet thick concrete left by the explosion and into the village. He carefully leapt over the rubble and dust before looking up to find out where he was in relation to the prison.

Ducking behind the back of the nearest building, he managed to get into the shadows just in time before a pair of masked shinobi materialised next to the gaping hole in the wall through which he had entered. Black-ops, he supposed. These Konoha shinobi were nothing if not efficient – it had barely been one minute and they were already on his tail. The one with the hawk-like mask turned to his comrade.

"That makes sixteen points of entry now, and I expect this isn't the last." He said.

"Whoever entered looks like a skilled enemy – they evidently knew of the barrier and set up these multiple diversions to trick us. We don't even know if more than one person has got in, thanks to the chakra signals the explosions gave off….wait, what's that?"

Deidara mentally cursed. Dammit, he had forgotten to disguise his chakra! He quickly suppressed his chakra signals, and began to inch away. He was never one to run away from a fight, but attacking two black-ops here would certainly raise the alarm, to precisely where he was, and he didn't want to draw attention to himself just yet.

With a flash of inspiration, the criminal picked up a small lump of rubble, and when the pair of black-ops' heads were turned, threw it as hard as his could down the opposite alley before shrinking back into the darkness.

"Probably just a stupid cat. Come one, you're getting paranoid – let's go." Said the hawk-masked black-op and turned with his partner before disappearing once more.

Deidara let out a sigh of relief and stood away from the wall of the building he had been pressed up against, looked one way and the other, and headed off through the snaking maze of back-streets. He knew the prison from here was at the opposite side of the village, where the buildings became sparser and the hilly regions began. It was time to begin the search for Tenten.

* * *

As the kunoichi opened her blood-shot eyes, even the dull, lifeless half-light of her cell was enough to fill her head with instant pain. Tenten groaned audibly and sat up, covering her eyes with her palms as she did so before opening them once more as they adjusted to her surroundings. With one of her cold hands on her forehead to calm the pain, she looked around, her brows creasing in confusion as she tried to work out where she was. Judging by what she could see, this place was a prison cell.

She was sitting on a thin bed that looked like it had been designed to fold out of the adjacent wall, judging by the cords and hinges connected it to it. The aforementioned wall and ceiling were both a dull grey and the room had no light or windows. The mattes on the bed was thin and of poor quality; lumpy and uncomfortable, with a plain thin white sheet covering it. The whole cell was about three metres square.

Tenten stood up slowly, her eyes roaming around the room once more. There was nothing else in the room apart from one cupboard and two doors. The first, slightly larger and secure looking one had a rectangular hole cut out of the top with a series of thick steel bars that ran from bottom to top, through which the only light on the room was filtering. There was also a flap of metal at the door's foot through which Tenten guessed food was pushed into the cell. Unsurprisingly, it didn't budge.

She then crossed steadily to the second, smaller door, and found that she could open this one. It led into another room that was barely big enough for the sink and toilet that occupied it, and there was one bare-bulb for a light.

Tenten went back into the main part of the cell and sat back down on the bed, trying to work out how she had got here. All she could remember was intense agony, white and blinding, and then nothing at all. She guessed she must have passed out during the interrogation.

She suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness in the silence of her cell, alone with her thoughts. It was impossible to escape her fate now. No one in this place would have the slightest bit of sympathy for an Akatsuki member, and from what she had heard, her own execution was quickly approaching.

Tenten lay back down on her hard mattress, folding her legs before her as she curled into a protective ball. She was well and truly alone. The Akatsuki would leave her hear, it was not in their wishes to retrieve a member who was foolish enough to get caught in the first place, let alone considering the tight security of the leaf Village. As Neji had told her so many times; destiny was unavoidable.

She looked down at her arm as she ran her fingers over the vivid scar left from her encounter at Orochimaru's lair. It had healed quickly thanks to the medical treatment it had received, but as she vacantly wondered how long it would take to heal completely, she noticed something else. A couple of inches or so above the scar, she could see a small red dot on her skin. It looked like a tiny scab, but around it the veins were accentuated, the blue standing out against her pale skin.

She sat up so she could see it better in the dim light, and clenched her teeth in frustration. It was the sign of a chakra suppressant injection, but not an ordinary one. The ring of veins told her that this particular chemical was likely to keep her from using any chakra whatsoever for at least a week. She remembered this fact from the many hours she used to spend reading through different poisons and chemicals you could use for coating a blade. Tenten had never really embraced the idea of poisoning her weapons; in her eyes, that seemed a little too much like cheating.

Anyhow, the fact that she was unable to utilize chakra for the next week just served to heighten her sense of hopelessness. There was no way for her to even contemplate escaping now.

Suddenly, Tenten looked up as the sound of footsteps cut through the silence of her cell. She could make out two pairs of feet, and her heart-rate quickened as they came to a halt outside the barred door to her cell.

"Akatsuki…you have a visitor."

* * *

After at least half and hour of creeping through back alleys and derelict streets, Deidara was getting frustrated. He seemed to be as far away from his goal as ever, and the amount of masked black-op squads passing by too close to comfort was increasing by the minute.

The blonde shinobi paused, hidden in a particularly dark and dirty alley way, and crossed his arms as he thought. The best plan from here would be to create a couple of clay clones and send them out on different routes to draw away his pursuers, making sure that they had the same chakra signature as he. Then again, that would use up vital chakra that he was likely to need later on for rescuing Tenten.

However, if he didn't, his chances of even reaching Tenten were becoming increasingly slim, so it would be better to use the chakra now so that he could at least get to her before he worried about getting out. Besides, he was sure that the kunoichi would be more than willing to put up a fight, and Deidara knew better than anyone that she was definitely able to cope with a few guards, given her level of abilities and chakra control.

Deidara nodded to himself in a way that seemed to affirm his decision, and long down at each of his palms, the skin stretching and bulging as the mouths inside chewed slowly. After a minute, they simultaneously spat out identical miniature figures of Deidara that the aforementioned shinobi carefully set down upon the dusty ground before making a hand-seal.

The pair of tiny clones instantly became life-size and full colour in a cloud of smoke that soon dissipated into the night air. Immediately, they both started to run in the opposite direction to Deidara, splitting up at the next crossroads at which point Deidara could no longer see them. Of course, like his other pieces of art, they too would detonated if the need arose, which would draw convenient attention away from the real Deidara. With any luck, this should get the search parties off of his back for a while at least.

The blonde shinobi turned and headed up the street again, his long robes swishing behind him. Of course, the signature Akatsuki cloak was not exactly the most camouflaged of costumes, but this night was cold, despite the fact it was July, and he was glad of it.

Deidara looked out from behind the building he was currently hiding in the shadow of to check that the coast was clear. He detested having to sneak around like a petty thief like this, much preferring to swoop in all guns blazing customary to his style on he giant transport bird. However, unlike the time he captured the Kazekage, the Leaf Village had a much tighter security and its military force was definitely stronger than Sunagakure's had been that time, so he daren't risk it.

As Deidara looked this way and that for any sign of his pursuers, he suddenly noticed something unusual. A little way in front of him in a cluster of rusty bins, a white face was staring at him. Judging from its position, it could have been a large white cat. In the dark alley, it was difficult to make out exactly what it was until…

_Thunk!_

Deidara's head whipped around as a kunai embedded itself in an old mattress throw into a skip that had been hanging about an inch from his ear. He instinctively rolled to the side just in time to avoid a volley of shuriken thrown from in front of him. He looked up, teeth gritted.

Shit! The 'cat' had just been the mask of a Konoha Shinobi the whole time! He cursed himself before diving out of a barrage of weapons for the third time as his hands simultaneously both pulled out two lumps of clay.

* * *

Tenten looked up, her face painted with a mixture of suspicion and surprise. Who on earth would come to visit her – an Akatsuki member and a betrayer? She stood up and crossed so she was standing a few feet from the door.

"Who is it?" She called.

There came no reply except the sound of the clicking and metallic sliding of a sequence of locks that must be fastened to the other side of the maximum security door. Tenten took a step back as a resounding clang rang through the metal door at the sound of the heavy beam-like latch being lifted.

The door slowly swung open as a person walked quickly inside. He was turned away from her, conversing with the jailer as Tenten's eyes widened.

"You have ten minutes." The jailer informed the visitor before pulling the door shut with a reverberating clang once again.

Neji turned slowly to face Tenten, his pale face an impassive mask, those pale emotionless orbs eerily illuminated in the dully lit cell. He looked at her for a few moments, before stepping forward.

"Tenten…I'm so sorry what what's happened…forgive me."

Tenten stared at him, completely taken aback. Neji took a couple of steps forward until he was level with Tenten before he wrapped his arms gently around her and leant forward, pressing his lips to hers in a fervent kiss.


	19. Face of Glass

**Chapter nineteen.**

**Apologies for the lack of chapter on Friday…and the Friday before that – I cut off my internet so that I could focus for my ultra-important art deadline this week. Also, I am on Holiday quite a lot this summer (which makes a nice change) so I will just have to update when I can. Thanks for your continuing commitment and reviews!**

**I most certainly do not own Naruto!**

* * *

Tenten's eyes widened suddenly, caught completely by surprise. Her heart started hammering wildly in her chest as Neji's soft warm lips remained clamped tightly to hers, and his taste filled her mouth. A rich deep crimson blush spread out over Tenten's cheeks.

Suddenly, she braced her palms against Neji's chest and pushed herself firmly but not aggressively away from him, her face still scarlet and full of a mixture of surprise, confusion and suspicion. He let her go quickly, moving his hands away from where they had gently held her thin waist and the back of her head.

Tenten couldn't believe what had just happened. Nothing like this had ever happened to her; in fact she was ashamed to think to herself that it was actually her first real kiss. And it had been with _Neji. _In their shinobi society, little space was left for romance or relationships, and it had never crossed her mind as that much of a key part of her life. Then again, she had had a crush on her Hyuuga team-mate for a long time prior to betraying the leaf village, where she had severed all ties to her home, including her feelings for Neji.

"Why…? I – don't understand…" Tenten said in a voice that was unusually unsure for one such as her.

What had possessed her mature and distant…now enemy she supposed to kiss her? He had always turned away all those years when it had been so obvious she had feelings for him. Was this a trick to get her to release information? Then again, surely the interrogation squad had extracted all they could from her mind anyway. The kunoichi shuddered as her memory replayed the blinding pain in her mind.

"This is my fault…I can see what I've done to you…and how they've hurt you…I -"

Neji looked away, his own cheeks ever so slightly pink against the usual porcelain white. He truly looked remorseful.

"I was tasked to come and inform you…your execution is scheduled for first light at dawn. The guards didn't want to take any chances with an Akatsuki member…Tenten." Neji said, his voice cracking as he said the word 'execution'.

"I came to tell you so it wouldn't come as a shock…and to say how sorry I am, although words hardly justify my actions."

He looked although he was about to say more, but Tenten interrupted him.

"You mean for capturing me in those woods and parading me through the streets like cattle for slaughter?"

"Yes, but I had no choice. Guy and Lee would not have let an Akatsuki member go free, even if it was you. And you would have died from exhaustion or have been found by Orochimaru if we hadn't have picked you up."

Tenten looked away stubbornly, her heart unsure of what to believe. Should she trust him or not? Neji seemed to be able to read her expression because he stepped forward and placed his pale hands on her shoulders, turning her gently so she would look at him.

"Look, I understand why you left, at least, how it seems to me. I knew that all that time when we were on the team together, how you felt about me. Did you really think you could keep it hidden? Especially the way gossip flies around." Neji said, a thin smile touching his lips.

Tenten immediately blushed a deep crimson and dropped her head so Neji wouldn't see her pink face. What was she doing? She was stronger than this! Trust Neji to be able to find her innermost walls and break them down before her.

"At first it was irritating. I couldn't understand why you would be so foolish as she allow your emotions to take a hold of you. However, over time…about when you passed the chunin exams, I began to feel the same way. You always supported our team, you were often the voice of reason and yet so overlooked by sensei and taken for granted by Lee. It wasn't long before I realised that I…had fallen for…you…and I still hold those feelings."

Tenten was stunned. She looked up at Neji, her eyes glistening. Was she really hearing this?

"But…I…why didn't you tell me?" She whispered.

"Because of whom I am. As a Hyuuga, I am bound by tradition and my clan's high standing in society to marry only a woman from a clan of equal rank. I was trapped, don't you see? I couldn't tell you or show you how I felt – even though I am only part of the branch family I am still expected to carry the honour and reputation of my clan on my shoulders. I…envy you, Tenten. You are free to be with whoever you chose, to do whatever you want, whether the choices you make are good, or indeed bad. You have to understand, the punishment for loving a…a -"

"Commoner?" Tenten said, her voice taking on a hint of sharpness.

"No! I mean yes. I mean…" Neji seemed to struggle with himself.

"Neji…I did love you. You and Lee meant the world to me, as did the village. However, over time, I felt like I was fading into the background. I can see why now you ignored me as you did…but it wasn't just you who made me want to leave. So don't go baring that burden on your own. I'm sorry…but I've grown up now, and I'm afraid that I cannot return your feelings." Tenten's eyes were full of tears.

"But Tenten -!" Neji began.

"Hey, your time is up in there!" The guard shinobi called, banging on the door with a fist.

"You forget, Neji. I am Akatsuki now, and nothing anyone can say will change that. I will think of you…as I…go to my…execution tomorrow. Goodbye…friend." Tenten held back a sob, clenching her throat tight even as she felt a tear start to fall down her cheek.

Neji turned, Tenten unable to see his expression as he left the small cell, the thick metal door clanging loudly behind him.

* * *

Deidara was running for his life through back-street and avenue, keeping his chakra levels undetectable as he moved. He could tell by the flitting shadows to his left that the anbu member was still following him. He had not yet employed his bombs, wanting to at least try not to blow his cover yet.

He scowled as he found himself wishing he was flying aboard his clay bird instead of scurrying down some alley like a sewer rat, but that was out of the question. Somewhere out in the night, a dog howled close by.

The shinobi tailing him paused and looked in the direction of where the noise had come from. Deidara seized the opportunity and flung a kunai at him with deadly accuracy. The enemy dodged just in time to avoid a fatal hit, but as it was, the kunai sunk deep into his forearm and he let out a strangled yell of pain.

Deidara didn't stay to wait for back up to arrive; whilst the Konoha shinobi fell behind, he disappeared into the night once more like a shadow. However, travelling at speed through the 'village' was going to arouse suspicion sooner or later. Having changed direction slightly and worked his way somewhat deeper into the maze of backstreets, Deidara finally paused, leaning up against a wall as he caught his breath.

He knew that within a few hours dawn would arrive, and there was no way in hell he would be able to get out of the Leaf Village alive with Tenten once the inhabitants woke up and the business of the day began. His aim was to find Tenten and rescue her before first light.

As a thin cloud drifted over the moon, the light became softer, and the sharpness the pure moonlight brought out of the world was temporarily taken away. Deidara seized the moment and skirted across the main street to the other side before a patrol spotted him. By his reckoning, he shouldn't have too much further to go, especially if the Strict Correctional Facility was as far away as he remembered.

Being a cautious orginistaion in the way it ran its missions, the Akatsuki had blue-prints in its stores to most of the major villages, which wasn't surprising seeing as it had a member from almost every country in the continent.

Deidara cursed himself for his impatience; having not even looked at the Konoha blue-prints when he set off on this mission. However, then, he'd had no idea that Tenten had been brought here, so he supposed it was understandable. Even so, he had glanced at the village's layout briefly before, back on some other mission before he had even met the kunoichi he was now so determinedly pursuing.

Suddenly, Deidara's wondering thoughts were brought back to the present as a rumbling boom reverberated through the ground. He looked up as he climbed onto the roof of the adjacent building, squinting through his eye-scope.

A flash of yellow and orange briefly lit up the night, and Deidara couldn't pause to watch the artistry of the event. Evidently, one of his clay-clones had been thwarted. That only left one remaining, therefore narrowing down the Konoha shinobi's search for him. At least some of them would have their hands full with the detonation, which would allow him precious time to get to Tenten.

As the clone exploded, Deidara felt its experiences filter into his mind. It had made it to the other side of the village at least before it was overcome by Konoha shinobi. Deidara had underestimated how many were on the hunt by the looks of it, even though a couple had been taken out who had been standing too close to the clay clone when it detonated.

He briefly looked back over his shoulder, more on impulse than on anything else. Was it his imagination, or could he feel eyes on him? Deidara decided it was probably just himself, getting anxious what with the imminent threat.

As he turned back to face his course, something thin and shining blue whipped out of the shadows and tightened like a sticky lasso around Deidara's ankle. The criminal fought back a yell of surprise as he was caught mid-leap and thrown to the ground with a smack that he knew would leave the most embarrassing bruises.

Deidara tasted blood in his mouth as he tried to stand, but another of the long sticky ropes threw itself as his right arm and wrapped around it. As he looked up, struggling with his bond, a pair of Konoha shinobi stepped out of the shadows. They bother wore anbu uniform and each a unique mask.

The slighter of the two pushed up their mask to get a better view of their detainee. A young woman smirked down at him, the other ends of the blue chakra lassoes in one hand.

"Well done, Saiken!" The woman's comrade said, his voice far brighter than the usual toneless robot-like speech of the average anbu member.

Deidara ground his teeth together from where he lay sprawled on the ground. He didn't have the time for this, and there was no way he would let his pride be damaged unpunished. The criminal spat out a familiar model of clay from the mouth in the palm of the arm that was bound by Saiken's chakra rope. With his other free hand, he formed a hand sign and smirked as the centipede grew to the thickness of his arm and wrapped lithely around the rope.

"KATSU!" Deidara yelled.

The centipede exploded with enough force to sever the chakra rope and throw Deidara about ten feet from the detonation, but not hard enough for him to sustain any injuries more serious than a slight burn. Unlike a kunai or shuriken that would not be able to cut chakra, the explosion emitted Deidara's own chakra at force – enough to rip the bonds into shreds. He did not have time to marvel at the artistry however, as the second shinobi was bearing down upon him.

Deidara withdrew a pair of kunai just in time to meet the blow form his enemy, who wielded a long katana blade. Both hands were gripped around the hilt, pressing his weight down onto Deidara.

The blonde Akatsuki member in question, pushed back, rivalling the Konoha ninja's force with ease. The man behind the mask gave a double take, as if surprised at Deidara's strength. Deidara may not have been the most ridiculously muscled of people, but he certainly had enough strength to counter this guy.

In a hurry to finish the fight, Deidara suddenly swung his legs around and kicked the man hard in the stomach. The anbu member swore as he crashed to the ground and a small white shape crawled onto his shoulder.

"W-what the he-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the spider exploded and blood showered the area. Deidara's didn't stop to look at the corpse as the smoke cleared and the shockwaves died out, but the look on Saiken's face told him it probably wasn't a pretty sight.

The looked of pure hatred on the girl's face made Deidara smirk. He had seen that face before. Saiken drew out a katana of her own and flew at Deidara with a litheness and agility her comrade had not possessed.

Deidara met her onslaught with kunai, having to admit to himself that she was adept at close combat; even he was having slight difficulty fending off her frenzied attack. Even so, it was still well within his capabilities to beat her. He put on his most smooth face, a wide grin on his lips.

"Well now, I do like a woman who knows her way around a sword, hmm?" He said, bating her into a still more aggressive attack that would hopefully lead her to drop her guard out of lack of concentration.

"You…bastard!" Saiken hissed, whirling in a complex arch to strike with maximum force.

The continual clang of steel rang throughout the street, and by now, a couple of residents had lifted their windows to see what all the fuss was about.

"A-Akatsuki!" Cried one of them.

Deidara ignored them, his face lined with concentration. He had underestimated this girl. A deep can now ran across his shoulder, ripping his cloak, although she too sported a slash on her forearm.

Suddenly, as they moved backwards through the alley, Saiken's foot caught on something and she stumbled. Deidara looked down briefly. Her foot had snagged under the leg of her dead team-mate.

With a swift movement, the criminal lunged, thrusting the kunai forward into her ribcage. Saiken opened her lips in a silent scream as blood trickled down her chin. She quavered, and fell dead across the body of her partner.

Deidara stood up, shaking his scarlet hand to rid it of some of the blood that coated it like a crimson glove. He could taste it in the mouth of his palm.

"That was fun, Konoha shinobi. I thank you for entertaining me so but I believe I must leave now hmm?" He smirked before turning and making a hand seal with his bloodied hand.

A huge owl opened its porcelain white clay wings before him as he stepped onto its smooth back. The Konoha shinobi would find him now, one way or another. Deidara was sick of skulking in shadows – it was time do stealth mode…his way.


	20. Alliances

**Chapter twenty.**

**Finally, my story has passed the fifty thousand word mark! I don't know why that feels like much of an achievement, but is seems like a worthy milestone to me! Anyhow, please enjoy the next chapter and don't forget to review!**

**Sorry for the huge wait for this one, but I have been much busier than I anticipated!**

**I do not own Naruto, and never will.**

* * *

Tenten sat hunched against the wall, her back turned on the thick steel door that stood between her and freedom. The light in the cell changed very little, so she guessed that her cell must lie within some other larger building seeing as the vestigial light filtering under the door was cold and white; artificial.

Her arms hugged her knees to her chest, and her hair that she had tamed into her usual neat style ealier in the medical cell had fallen loose – stray locks falling across her face, sticking to the salty wet tracks of the tears that had dampened her cheeks.

Tenten didn't care about them any more; what difference did make now, with her death approaching with the arrival of the sun. However, she found now that she didn't fear it as much as she had expected. She guessed it had something to do with the fact that all her life as a shinobi; death was just part of the job description. She had seen many comrade buried in the village's graveyard, including the third Hokage.

No, she just felt hopeless. So alone. It was obvious to her that none of the Akatsuki would be sent to retrieve her. She was just their rookie member, her abilities not worth risking a reckless rescue mission.

Not only that, but her conflicting feelings for Neji were buzzing in her head like a nest of hornets. She found it all so unbelievable; a metaphorical slap in the face for her preconceptions that no-one in the village recognised her existence. Now that her old crush had as good as told her he was in love with her; that made her reasons for betraying the village in the first place seem material, unimportant.

However, that did nothing to change the fact that Neji could not…would not help her now. She was Akatsuki now after all, and saving her would certainly mean the shame of his clan, disowned by his own family. Besides, the notion that he would just sweep her off her feet and run away with her was a girlish fantasy that she had done away with years and years ago. No, Neji would not be coming for her if it meant sacrificing his clan and pride.

How long now until she was lead on the agonisingly humiliating parade to her execution, with people she had once known and cared for watching with malice? To them it would make not one scarp of difference that she ha spent most of her life in service to the village – it was only the here and now and the Akatsuki member that mattered to them.

It wasn't long before these heavy thoughts exhausted Tenten's already strained mind, and she drifted off into a dozing, fevered sleep, her head lolling onto her shoulder, curled up in a defensive ball at the foot of the metal cell door.

* * *

The village flew by below like a map as Deidara soared above, the gentle rising and falling of the clay bird beneath contrasting with the angry gusts of wind that made his hair and cloak stream out like banners behind him.

With a smirk, the criminal swung his ride to the left, avoiding a barbed harpoon-like weapon that had been launched off of the nearest building below that had the intention of taking his head off. Shinobi down on the ground yelled orders and Konoha villagers milled about in a state of semi-panic. Deidara had to admire the way the shinobi all seemed to stay reasonably calm however, amid the chaos.

Deidara's aim was not however to attack the village, unless of course one of its members got in his way, so he had spared minimal chakra for creating light explosives that would not do that much damage, but still buy him some time.

Up here in the sky, although he had most certainly lost his cover, he could at least see the layout of the village a lot more clearly. He marvelled at how it was built almost like a maze – the architectural prowess was truly astounding. However, he could see now that in his time traversing the city sized village by foot, he had covered less that half the distance he thought he had, due to the twisting and winding streets – if he had carried on that way, he would have taken forever.

However, from his vantage point far above the avenues of Konoha, he could at last see what his intuition told him was the Strict Correctional Facilities. That cluster of cold grey buildings in the distance, set apart from the others and devoid of decoration could surely not be for any other purpose that the detaining of dangerous criminals. Like Tenten.

The sight of her prison made Deidara all the more determined to get her out of there. He smirked as he imagined her scowling at him, hands on her hips, berating him as she had it all under control.

Then again, as the blonde shinobi took in the sight of the heavily reinforced steel building structure through the zoom function of his eye scope, he realised it would be suicide to try and force his way in, all guns blazing.

Deidara put on an extra burst of speed, leaving the Konoha forces behind as he dropped silently below the line of trees that enclosed the main part of the village on the mountain side, hiding him from view. However, he had to move quickly – in less than no time the enemy would be upon him, and Akatsuki would loose two members.

He didn't have far to go now, but he also had no plan, and a very short amount of time to complete the mission. Even as he thought this, the first light of the new day was creeping into the sky, cold grey finders reaching over the mountains to the east.

Deidara looked once more around the edge of the bush behind which he hid. Confident that the Konoha shinobi were still a little way off, he smirked and stood up, turning to head towards the prison – almost walking straight into a man with empty ashen eyes who was regarding him with interest.

* * *

Tenten was shaken forcibly out of her slumber as the harsh knocking of a fist on her door shattered her stupor. Her eyes snapped open and she scrambled back, getting to her feet, the remains of restless dreams clouding her mind.

She winced as her muscles; stiff from having slept curled up on the hard floor, protested against the sudden movement. She calmed her breathing from the surprise, and looked up expectantly at the door. A harsh male baritone ended the silence.

"You have five minutes. At the end of that time, your escort will arrive to take you to your execution. That is all." Said the guard before the retreating sound of footsteps told Tenten he had walked away.

The kunoichi blinked to herself, her heart quickening once again. It was hard to remain calm with the end of her life drawing so near. However, she was damned if she was going to give the guards and whoever else would be attending the execution the satisfaction of seeing her fear and anticipation. She would not deny to herself that, yes, she was very afraid; that would be childish, but she was resolute that she would not show it.

Five minutes.

Tenten quickly crossed the small room to the tiny bathroom, turning on the half-hearted light with a flick of her finger at the switch. If there was one way to distract herself from what was to come, it would be to busy her hands with some menial task.

The face in the mirror looked back at her in way that almost seemed to be mocking her. Her skin was too pale, and dark circles weighed down her eyes, the pupils fully dilated to make use of the little light available. As for her hair, the pair of buns that were her customary style had fallen almost completely loose, stray strands sticking to salty dried tears on her face. What wasn't stuck extruded at strange angles that made her look like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Tenten tutted to herself, as she thought of how horrified the immaculate person she had been a month ago would have responded to seeing her in this state.

She didn't have time to wash her hair, but she thought she might as well tame it back into place. If turned up to her execution looking like this, everybody would think she had given up hope, and she hadn't done that yet…had she? She found herself unsure of the answer to that question, but put it to the back of her mind before the despair sank down upon her shoulders once more.

She worked quickly, letting her hair fall so she could brush it through with her fingers before teasing it back into the two buns. It was by no means a perfect job; there was still loose hair sticking out here and there, but it was a darn sight better than it had been before. Next, she reached out and turned on the cold tap to wash her face clear of the tear tracks and crusted salt. No water came out and Tenten scowled. She tried the hot tap, and although the water did flow this time, it certainly didn't warm up.

When she had finished, she looked back at her reflection, and sighed. It was a little better. She could do nothing about the drawn cheeks, the pasty complexion or her dark eyes, but it would be enough.

The knocking came again, and the kunoichi turned and faced the offending door, her arms crossed and head held high. She adjusted her plain black shirt and trousers that were the prison uniform and sighed, finding herself wishing for the warm comfort of her cloak – her Akatsuki cloak. She certainly didn't feel like an infamous criminal heading to her execution – more like an animal heading for slaughter. It was an odd thought, but donning her cloak would at least make her feel more purposeful, as if there was meaning to this whole circumstance.

"Akatsuki, your time has come."

* * *

Deidara's hand immediately flew to his kunai, but the man before him had already prepared to fight himself. The pair circled one another in silence, eyes guarded and revealing no intention. Deidara's eyes fell to the man's right had, which was raised in an offensive stance, a faint blue light emanating from it.

The criminal took in his adversary's appearance. He was tall, about the same height of himself, but he could see from his face that he was the younger by a couple of years. He wore the familiar leaf insignia on his headband, and his curiously long hair – almost as long as his own, fell loose around the shoulders of his white shirt. And then there were those eyes – pale and devoid of pupils. They were blank and expressionless, but Deidara thought he could detect an undercurrent of sadness behind them. Deidara thought he recognised this man from somewhere…

Deidara clenched his teeth. He didn't have time for this. He had to find Tenten and get her out of trouble before dawn had fully arrived. Even now, tendrils of glowing red had crawled across the sky from the east; it would be a truly beautiful sunrise.

"I see by your apparel you are Akatsuki." Commented the man.

His tone was neither accusatory nor fearful, merely informative.

"So I am, hmm?" Deidara replied, keeping his kunai trained on the man's throat.

Suddenly, a small light seemed to take hold of those empty eyes, and the man abruptly dropped his hand, the faint blue light extinguished immediately. Deidara didn't drop his weapon, and his cerulean eyes took on a hint of suspicion.

"I know why you're here. You're after Tenten, aren't you?" He asked after a moment.

Deidara's brow furrowed.

"You knew – know her? Who are you?" He asked, ever conscious of the Konoha forces that undoubtably would be closing in before long.

"My name is Neji Hyuuga. I am a…friend of Tenten's." He replied.

"I remember now. You were part of that Kazekage rescue squad the leaf sent out. Funny – I don't remember her mentioning you at all. She never really spoke much of Konoha apart from the fact that she resented its indifference to her. Either way, you must be some friend if you're content to let her die." Deidara said accusingly.

"You were close to her then?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Deidara smirked as some colour came into Neji's pale face, but knew there was no time for idle conversation. He took a step forward towards him and motioned with the kunai in his hand.

"Look, I'm in a hurry, hm? So I suggest you either help me or get out of here or I will kill you like I did the last Leaf ninja who stood in my way." He said urgently.

Neji looked conflicted for moment. No doubt he was weighing up the consequences of helping an Akatsuki member and his own honour against saving his friend – and Deidara could see from his expression that there was likely something more than friendship between the two. He would make a point to badger it out of Tenten when he got her safely away from here.

"Fine. I'll help you. Do you even have a plan on how you are going to get her out of there? Her execution is scheduled for only a few minutes time. Unless you have any ideas I'd say you've already failed." Neji pointed out sardonically.

Deidara scowled.

"Not exactly the most encouraging of people are you hmm? I know what I am doing. You forget, I am an S-rank criminal."

He smirked once again and held out his hand, palm up. Neji looked disgusted as something white and gelatinous crawled out f the open mouth. It opened its wings and took the shape of a small bird, long and streamlined with two pairs of agile looking wings. It stayed motionless for a moment, before taking to the air and disappearing almost to fast for Neji to follow with his eyes into the forest.

"It will find Tenten and create a big enough disturbance nearby to give us some more time to get there. What do you think – artistic hmm?" Deidara said, looked at his new comrade.

"I think," Neji said, "That we haven't the time to admire it."

"Agreed." Deidara replied.

"So now we go."


	21. The Queen of Hearts

**Chapter twenty-one.**

**I have a feeling that I'm not far from the end of this story now…but don't worry! I **_**may**_** be writing another one afterwards – not Naruto but Harry Potter, using the original characters my friend and I share from her story, Butterflies and Hurricanes. I know the wait has been huge for this chapter, but with my initial workload being seen to, I should start to upload more regularly again...**

**Please enjoy and review!**

**As ever, I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

The clangs and clicking of the various locks that secured the door to Tenten's cell filled the air, before the heavy metal structure was pushed open unceremoniously to reveal a pair of surly looking guards. Neither would meet the condemned kunoichi in the eye.

Before either of them could approach her, she stepped forward out of her cell, unwilling to be seen as a coward who shrank away from her fate. At that moment, like a whip cracking into action, a pair of thin pale objects threw themselves from the floor towards her. Tenten could only blink in shock and surprise as they wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her torso like snakes.

Tenten's eyes widened as she realised what they were. They were long strips of paper, with symbols inscribed upon both sides. They were incapacitators, the jutsu sealed in each one capable of rending her completely unable of movement. She could already feel her arms losing feeling. She guessed they must have been set off by her stepping over the threshold of her prison on her own, in case she attempted to escape.

One of the guards ducked forwards and caught the ends of the paper strips quickly, before they could wind around her legs.

"Phew, you caught that just in time!" said the second guard, allowing himself a smile, "I wouldn't have wanted to carry her to the Sector! At least this way she can walk on her own."

The first guard grunted in reply and Tenten went red. The image in her mind of herself being carried tied up like a parcel to her execution was almost too much to bear. Even as it was, her arms had been rendered immobile under the belt-like straps pinning them to her sides.

The first guard gave her a hard kick to her back that almost sent her sprawling, her eyes screwed up tight against the pain, fighting the urge to yell.

"Move." He snarled close to her ear.

Tenten stiffened at the rancid smell of his breath and cringed away before standing straight, doing her best to look proud and resolute without letting any compromising emotions show up on her pale face. Instead, she looked around, seeing for the first time the interior of the prison block outside of her cell, from which she had been unable to see anything anyway.

The place had been designed in such a way to make the inmates feel as hopeless and inadequate as humanly possible, thought Tenten as she looked around. Gunmetal grey walls, grey ceiling, grey doors, and surprisingly, grey metal flooring as well. Tenten's sandaled feet scuffed against aluminium tread plait grills set into the floor, and if she narrowed her eyes she could make out more cells beneath them. She felt glad she had at least been incarcerated above ground. She wondered what the crimes of the poor souls down there had been.

A sharp tug on the paper belts that bound her brought her back into the real world and out of her day-dreaming. The guard didn't have to pull her again, as she was walking proudly past them, as they exchanged looks of confusion. Evidently, these men had never experienced a prisoner who would go to there death whilst retaining as much dignity as she seemed to be able to. However, that was not to say that they didn't stick to her sides like glue, making any sort of escape impossible.

The metal grills clanged under her feet as they made their way through the dreary prison block, the voices of incarcerated criminals around her filling her ears. Many of those below the ground under her feet were calling out as they saw people pass overhead. Some called out in anger, others in despair so overwhelming Tenten wanted to cover her ears. She shuddered wondering if she would be reduced to that if she had been imprisoned down there.

After a further few minutes of walking through the oppressive walkways and corridors, passing not only cells but offices and interrogation rooms, they cam to a large steel door that stood imposingly at the end of the corridor. Tenten guessed this was the exit, and the desire to breathe fresh air and see the sky above was so strong she felt a sudden burst of new energy.

A small rectangular piece of paper was attached across the seam of the door. Upon it was scribed a symbol that Tenten knew from her training in the Leaf was one of sealing and entrapment. The guards at her side nodded to a silent pair of custodians who stood at either side of the door. Tenten jumped, as she hadn't noticed them before; their attire the same dull grey as the walls – they even wore grey masks.

The door attendants turned, raising each of their right hands up so their palms faced out. Tenten squinted to see that upon the weathered skin was tattooed a mirror image of the symbol inscribed upon the paper seal on the door. As they each pressed their palms to the paper, it pealed away, fluttering down to the ground like an ordinary piece of paper, before they picked it up as if it was made of glass and a low hiss signalled the opening of the door.

Tenten's analytical mind told her that there was probably some kind of vacuum seal on the door as well as the numerous locks that somebody on the other side was now undoing. The door was pushed inwards from the outside, and light came flooding into the dimly lit corridor. Tenten bowed her head to the light to stop it getting into her eyes; she had not expected the brightness. She thought it was supposed to still be pre-dawn.

As she was adjusting to the harsh white light, the paper bindings were given another sharp tug, and she was forced to walk forwards, half blinded, into the unknown. Then, all of a sudden, the light was gone. Seeing stars, Tenten opened her eyes to see where it had gone. It had been a searchlight, sweeping the area in its patrol around the prison grounds. Mounted on a high platform, she watched as it swivelled around to look at another area of the centre.

The actual sky was still shrouded in the sleepy blanket of grey clouds and half-hearted light that purveyed the coming of the new day. Away to the east, over the mountains, fingers of blood red were crawling like veins over the sky. Evidently, the executioner was running late – whoever he was – as Tenten thought she was supposed to have been disposed of at first light.

Again, the bindings were pulled sharply as she tore her gaze from the sky and followed her pair of guards. Neither deigned to speak to her, and thought she even sensed a flicker of fear among them. This made her smile smugly to herself despite the situation, as she thought of herself as the terrible Akatsuki member she had been made out to be.

Eventually, one of them spoke.

"We will shortly be arriving at the Sector. Be aware that this area if crawling with guards and black-ops, so do not, I repeat do not, try anything stupid." The first guard informed her.

Tenten simply nodded in reply, as she knew by now that there was no hope of getting out of this place alive. She hated to admit it to herself, but she had given up. This yawning black hole of hopelessness filled any space where fear may have resided, and was almost worse in a way.

To distract her thoughts, she began to take in the scenery around her. After having longed for the outdoors since her imprisonment, she found it, to be honest, a little disappointing. Whoever had designed the interior of the prison had evidently designed the exterior; there was no vegetation at all, just concrete and steel throughout of the whole of the space.

However, the square buildings that must serve as housing facilities for some of the guards as well as storeroom and the like were getting sparser, and here and there Tenten could see wizened grass poking up out of cracks in the concrete. After the disaster with Orochimaru at the chunin exams all those years ago, Tenten guessed the budget had been directed elsewhere than maintenance on the site.

It was a further few minutes before her guards brought Tenten to an abrupt halt. The red of the sunrise had bled outwards from the east to make the sky blaze with colour, but Tenten didn't have the heart to marvel at the fleeting beauty quite at that moment.

"Sir, we brought the Akatsuki." Reported the first guard.

"Yes, I can see that, thank you." Growled a low voice that Tenten knew only too well.

Ibiki turned to face them from where he had been looking up at the dawn sky, and looked Tenten up and down, his scrutinising glare making her skin crawl. There were very few people present from what Tenten could see, but she guessed there were black-ops all around, blending in with the surrounds so that even she could not sense them.

Aside from Ibiki, there stood two more guards as well as those who had accompanied her, and tall man with his face hidden by an all-covering mask. He was tall and gangly with overly long limbs, reminding Tenten of a huge spider. Tenten set her face, allowing no fear or anxiety to give satisfaction to Ibiki.

There were no buildings in this part of the prison's land, and Tenten was slightly puzzled by this, as surely they would want to hide a scene of an execution out of view. What she could see was a square of steel, set into the concrete ground. There was a slightly raised cylinder in the centre that rose above five inches from ground level. That was all there was to the place, and Tenten thought that surely, the execution would take place somewhere else.

Suddenly, her guards yanked the paper chain that restrained her arms so that she followed them to the raised plate in the centre of the metal floor. Here, a strong hand was pushed into the small of her back with enough force to make her kneel upon it. She looked up with resentment as both of the guards walked away, the ends of the paper binds tying themselves automatically around two small rings set into the ground so that she was tied to the floor like some kind of animal.

The spider-like masked man now approached her, standing in front of her like he really was a spider, about to pounce upon its prey.

"Do you know how an execution of an S-ranked criminal is carried out, Akatsuki? We use a conventional but effective method to make sure you're really dead. After what we've seen of your organisation's abilities, we like to take no risks." Ibiki asked lazily from a few paces away.

"No," Tenten said, "They left that part out at ninja academy."

Ibiki smirked and crossed his arms, but spoke no more. It was as if he had allowed his prisoner the little indulgence of getting the last word in before her death.

The masked man took a step closer and unsheathed from his back a long Katana, with a curiously thick blade. She guessed that meant it must be quite the heavy weapon, but because of that it would doubtless swing with immense power. Tenten's interest in weapons however, was not that key at this moment.

As he gripped the blade tightly with both hands, Tenten could make out a slight blue glowing tinge to the metal, and it was then that it all made sense. He was running dense chakra down the metal; she could see where the blue reached up to his hand. Tenten sat completely still, her skin prickling for what was to come. She felt the ice cold of the blade as the executioner trained it against the soft pale skin on her neck. The traditional method of beheading would be more effective regarding the chakra abilities of some by far, as it would definitely kill its target.

Tenten found her breathing quickening as she knew in her heart they would be the last breaths she ever took. She found that her head was oddly empty. She didn't see her life flash before her eyes or anything like the tales she had heard from various shinobi through her time in the village, neither did she have any major flashbacks to her life before Akatsuki. She didn't wonder what she would be doing if she hadn't left, not that she'd had any real choice, and didn't even truly regret affiliating herself with the criminal organisation.

She opened her eyes and looked up when the blow didn't come. The masked executioner had stepped back and was conversing in hushed tones with Ibiki. Tenten strained her ears but couldn't make out what they were saying. Their voices were hushed and urgent.

"…just get it done before it's too late!" Ibiki growled, raising his voice slightly – as Tenten could see he was getting impatient, but not only that, but beads of sweat were standing out on his brow.

Too late? What did that mean? Had something happened? She remembered the look on Neji's face just before he turned to leave her cell, and couldn't help but wonder if he had done something extremely out of character and stupid to try and free her. Then she shook her head, sighing. No, he was far too sensible to risk his life and position for a common girl like her.

Then…what if…Akatsuki were coming for her after all? At the thought of this, Deidara's face appeared in her mind along with a rush of feeling. Maybe he cared for her after all…the thought was ridiculous, but her heart was beating fast just at the thought. She found herself longing for the freedom he offered her, the exhilaration of soaring through the sky by his side fresh in mind. Could it be…she loved him? With a gulp, she felt afraid for one of the few times in her life – afraid it may be true.

A sharp nick in her neck brought her back to the real world and she jumped.

"Keep still, or it will hurt more." Hissed the executioner.

He was back, the blade raised high behind his head. It was time. She would never know if her criminal returned her feelings for him, she would never see him or Neji ever again. She held her head high. She was going to die, but she would do so with dignity.

Suddenly, a swish that was definitely not that of the katana broke the tension, and Tenten opened her eyes. As the executioner turned to look to where the noise had come from, she saw a small white form dart towards the small group - a bird with two pairs of wings and face that seemed to almost smirk. Out of the blue, it dived, and before anyone could utter a word, the world exploded.


	22. Flight through the Dawn

**Chapter twenty-two.**

**Gosh it's been a while since I updated…**

**To all my loyal readers, I apologize; I've had no end of work to do recently, but with any luck I can get a few more chapters written and uploaded over the Christmas holidays…at least I hope so!**

**Please enjoy and review – those things keep me going!**

**I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

Ears ringing as flashes of light filled her vision, Tenten was thrown wildly from the point of detonation, hitting the ground hard. She skidded along the concrete for a moment, scraping the skin from her forearm in the process as dust was thrown up around her. She lay there, stunned for a moment as the pain set in, her arms stinging as feeling returned to them.

Suddenly, she was hit with a flash of realisation. She could feel her arms again! She sat up quickly, looking down at the chard scraps of paper than had been her bonds. Evidently, that had been no ordinary explosion. It must have exuded chakra in order to destroy the paper belts in such away. That could only mean one thing. He was coming for her.

Buoyed by this information, she got to her feet, unsteadily at first. She took a deep breath, knowing her chakra had yet to recover from the repressing drugs she had been given at the prison. However, her hope had been restored, and that was all she cared about. She knew how to fight without chakra – it was one of the things she took express pride in. No, she wouldn't give up, not if he was coming. He cared; he wouldn't leave her to die after all!

The shouts and yells of guards brought her back to her senses, and she knew she had no time to loose. Luckily, the main explosion had missed her; her body having been shielded from the blast by the executioner who had been in the way. Both he and Ibiki were lying unconscious a few feet away from one another, and the two guards were dead. Feeling not a shred of sympathy for any of them, Tenten quickly made her way around to each, taking what weapons they had on their person that she could put to use and stowing them in the black bag that she had 'borrowed' from the unconscious Ibiki.

She was tired, battered and weakened from her ordeal in confinement, but she wouldn't let Deidara down. She would buy herself enough time until he arrived, of that she was sure. Selecting a weapon from her new collection she favoured the most, she took one last look around at the carnage before turning and sprinting, as fast as she could, towards the cover of the trees. This part of the facility, after all, wasn't too far from the densely wooded area that separated it from the main part of the leaf village.

As Tenten reached the tree line, she heard the shout behind her that she had been dreading.

"There she is! Don't let the Akatsuki escape!"

Tenten didn't pause to look over her should to see how many guards were after her. She plunged into the dark depths of the wood, darting between the thick trunks like a wraith. Having had little to eat and drink over the last couple of days, Tenten was already worn out and out of breath, but her stamina training was coming into its own now, and she had never been more grateful for those excruciating days of trekking as part of ninja academy.

It seemed that the scarlet tendrils of dawn had not yet reached the forest; the light having been blocked out completely by the canopy rendering the ground as dark as if it was still midnight. The voices were getting louder, and Tenten crouched behind the truck of a great oak as they approached. Her breath was coming hard and fast as adrenalin raced through her veins, and her legs were protesting painfully at having to be put to such use after days of sitting around.

She chanced a quick glance around her hiding place to see who had chased her here.

"I swear I heard someone come this way…I would stake my month's pay on it." Growled the first of the two thick-set guards.

"Then it's a good job you don't get paid a lot." Snorted his companion, evidently impatient to move on from the area.

Tenten breathed a silent sigh of relief. Good…they weren't anbu. It appeared that the black-ops hadn't arrived yet.

"Fine, you go that way and check the other side of this area of forest, I'll check this side. I heard what I heard." The first guard said.

There came a frustrated sigh from his comrade, but the retreating footsteps told her the man was doing what he had been told. Her heart beating fast, Tenten tried to inch quietly around the tree trunk to hide herself better.

A twig snapped underfoot. Tenten winced as the first man stopped moving to listen.

There then came a moment of pure silence as both she and the guard stayed completely still. Tenten suddenly made out the slight, almost inaudible crunch of dead leaves underfoot as her pursuer started to move towards her. By the time she registered what it was, he was almost upon her and she had barely enough time to roll out of the way before a volley of kunai hit the trunk against which she had been leaning.

She scrambled backwards as the large man approached, a katana in each hand. Tenten stared, wide-eyes as she backed up further, blinding fear taking over from rationality as he got closer and closer. Clamping down on her terror, Tenten tried to reason with herself. It would do neither she nor Deidara any good if she went and lost her head now…probably literally as well as figuratively.

However, it was easier said than done to come up with a plan whilst backing away from a menacing guard armed with two katana, and it wasn't until her back hit the tree behind that inspiration hit her.

Before the man's flailing arm could grab her, she drew on her energy reserves to jump, just high enough so she could catch hold of the lowest branch of the tree. As the guard looked up at her, slightly stunned that she was capable of this after her confinement, she twisted and let go, throwing her body weight forward so that she landed on the man's back.

Tenten quickly dug around in the bag she had stolen from Ibiki whilst the guard tried to claw her from his back. However, in order not to injure himself, he had to put down the katana he had been carrying, buying Tenten more time. Finally so pulled out what she had been looking for. It was a peculiar weapon, but Tenten had instantly decided she liked it the moment she had picked it up. It featured a chain made from interlocking looped of tempered steel so small it was more like a thick cord. At each end was tied a weighted kunai. These kunai had longer handles and shorter blades than the conventional design, but Tenten had already worked out what the weapon's purpose was.

Gripping each kunai end in one hand, she evaded the fist of the guard as he sought to knock her off her perch and then suddenly ducked forwards, looping the thin chain around his neck. Then, as he fought to make sense of the situation she pulled her knees up from underneath her and braced her feet against the man's back, still dodging his fists.

Picking the moment, Tenten suddenly slammed her feet forward, kicking herself away from the man with her hands still gripping the ends of the chain tightly. The piercing crack of the man's neck echoed dully through the woodland, dampened by the morning mist. Tenten landed painfully some feet away, jarring her ankles and breathing hard from the exertion.

Cautiously, she approached the body of the fallen guard, and peered down at his face which still held an expression of mild surprise. Yes; the neck had definitely snapped.

Tenten sighed, stowing her new weapon back in her bag of stolen goods, and began to make her way once more through the trees.

It was getting harder and harder to remain unseen amid the trees, especially as she had to stick to ground level due to her lack of chakra. To make matters worse, the dawn light had finally infiltrated into the depths of the wood, making her all the more easily spotted.

She found herself absent-minded wondering where Deidara was. Had he arrived at the execution sight, only to find her missing? Then again, surely he must have known that she wouldn't hang about for the guards and anbu to find – that would have been suicide. She leaned a against a tree for a moment of respite, knowing from the painful protest in her legs that she couldn't keep this up for much longer.

Closing her eyes, she tried to reach out for his chakra patterns, to which she had become accustomed over the last week. No…the patterns of all the other milling Guards and shinobi in the forest and around obliterated his signature, and she supposed he would be trying to keep it undetectable to the Konoha forces anyway.

From a little way away came the distant shout:

"Here! There's a body…it's one of ours!"

"The Akatsuki bitch must have gone this way…"

"Look here – tracks leading away from the corpse…!"

Tenten looked around her shoulder briefly, cursing at her carelessness. In any case, there was nothing she could do about it now. Her only option at this point was to keep running. She hated having to flee in this manner, but there was truly no other course of action she could take. With a grimace, the kunoichi turned and set off once more, deeper into the wood.

* * *

"Can you see her yet?" Deidara growled, his unhidden cerulean eye flicking back and forth between the trees of the misty forest.

"Not yet. This forest covers a large area and the chakra signatures of many others are masking Tenten's, and there's the fact that she probably has little of no chakra of her own right now, making her very difficult for me to pick up."

Neji was walking a little way ahead, the blood vessels around his pale eyes extenuated and standing out from his pale face as he used the Byakugan. Beads of perspiration had appeared on the young man's neck and brow, and Deidara guessed they were a culmination of the stress and trying to keep his chakra undetectable whilst using it. The only thing Neji seemed to deem more important than finding his friend was keeping himself hidden.

Tenten must had made a dash for it after the explosion hit the execution area, if the amount of guards and shinobi pouring into the forest was anything to go by. It made his and Neji's rescue mission even more difficult and had resulted in having to dispatch two enemies already.

They had made the decision to traverse the woods on foot because it made it easier for Neji to search for Tenten using his ocular powers, plus he had completely refused to fly on one of Deidara's clay birds anyway.

"We're not far from the edge of the woods and the site of the execution now…she must have gone in a different direction." Neji observed.

Deidara snarled with impatience.

"This is ridiculous! When we've rescued her, I'll kill her myself, hmm?"

The pair walked a little further in silence, thankful that the patrols seemed to have moved away from this particular area.

Suddenly, Deidara gave a start as his foot connect with something soft.

"What the…hey Neji, look at this, hmm?"

Deidara crossed his arms as he looked down at the body of a Konoha shinobi, face down in the decomposing leaves that littered the forest floor. Neji squatted by the corpse and ran a finger over the man's pulse.

"His neck has been broken. From the looks of it, a cord-like weapon was used. I know few people who use such objects…"

"Yes, yes, I can tell all that. It must have been Tenten; she must have passed this place."

Deidara grinned to himself, his cold eyes narrowing a fraction. Yes…it was completely in his kunoichi's character to do something like this; to be able to kill a trained shinobi even when exhausted and low on chakra.

"Indeed. However, it is clear that she used no nin-jutsu, and there is no trace of her chakra in the area. Therefore we can only assume that she has none remaining. If so, then we have even less time than I feared – the strength will fail her before long."

Deidara chuckled.

"You should have more faith in your comrade. She won't succumb quite as easily as you'd think."

Neji didn't look at Deidara's face, but he could sense the cold tone in his voice that was tinged with grief.

"You're wrong Akatsuki. That kunoichi is not my comrade."

There came a few moment of silence, before Neji spoke again.

"Of course this will mean she will be far more difficult to locate, seeing as her chakra signature will be almost impossible to make out. However…"

Deidara cut him off before he could continue.

"You know, we could just follow her tracks."

Neji glowered at him.

"They must be hers; they lead away from where the leaf litter was disturbed in their battle, and head west. Moving quickly, we should easily catch up with her, hmm?"

After another pause in which the two shinobi glared at each other, Neji nodded.

"Very well, it would seem to be the wisest course of action…"

Deidara allowed himself a smug grin, before the pair of them set off once more into the depths, where the light was just beginning to punctuate the darkest recesses of the foliage. The cold mist seemed to have soaked into Deidara's robes, and felt heavy and uncomfortable, not to mention cold.

Not only that, but his long hair now felt damp and was sticking to his face which was lightly covered in a mixture of mist and perspiration. Neji seemed to be no better off; his white Hyuuga shirt was stuck to his body.

Deidara's temper threatened to kindle as irritation filled him. Trust the hidden Leaf village to have a maze of a forest in which you could loose yourself completely. Why were kidnapping or rescue missions never simple? Last time, he had to traverse his way across a desert filled with sandstorms. Nothing was ever simple.

Suddenly, there cam a 'swish', and something heavy collided with him at speed.

Deidara was thrown off his balance and landed on his back in the rotting leaves. He whipped out a kunai and rolled over so whatever had attacking him was under his weight.

He stopped himself just before he slit her throat.

"Tenten?"


	23. A World Our Own

**Chapter twenty-three.**

**My my, I'm so sorry for the delay here…what with A2 work threatening to drown me right now, I've had to forgo the writing… and this haven't had many chances to get on and write the final chapter…**

**However, I just missed it so much I had to write again, so here it is, and I hope you can forgive my failing to update…**

**Naruto and co. belong to Masashi Kishimoto!**

* * *

"Tenten!"

It was Neji who exclaimed, lunging forwards and pushing Deidara off of her, grabbing her shoulders to look into her face as if he couldn't quite believe she was there. His disbelief was justified – she had never looked so unlike her usual severe, analytical self.

Tenten shook him off, considerably weakened but still stubborn and unwilling to be given such a look of patronising sympathy. She moved a few steps away from the two shinobi, before collapsing to her knees and coughing violently, horrified to see the crimson of blood mixed with the phlegm on the ground.

Deidara got to her first, sinking to ground by her and shrugging off his cloak, putting it over her trembling shoulders. Neji stood up, his face clearly showing his resentment that the blonde criminal had got there first.

"She's strained herself too much – combined with the slight toxicity of the chakra suppressing drug she must have received at the facility and how it must have reacted to the physical toll on her body. She doesn't have the strength to cope with much more before the worst happens."

Tenten's mind couldn't quite register the words Neji was saying; everything seemed distorted and her head hurt so much it felt like a kunai had been thrust inside it. She hated to think how weak she must be appearing to them – her hollow cheeks, unhealthily pale skin, bedraggled sweat soaked hair and her eyes so bloodshot and staring they could have belonged to a madwoman.

"Shut up…!"

"I beg your pardon?"

Deidara's eyes were narrowed as she turned to glower at Neji, his rebuke having triggered a puzzled if not angry look on the Hyuuga's face.

"Don't ever talk about her like that again. She has more strength than any of you give her credit for. You haven't even seen what she's capable of. What do you think made her leave you in the first place? Why she despises this village enough to join a rogue organisation like she did? Why she now refuses your advances?"

"Don't take liberties Akatsuki! I won't deny I have feelings for her, but I can't see her in the same light as I did before. She's lost to me now, I understand that much. She is now no more my comrade than you are. But even if she is stronger than I give her credit for, she cannot take much more stress on her body – regardless of any secret training or abilities."

"Don't assume anything…she will make it. I didn't come here without preparation, you know."

Deidara's cerulean eyes flashed dangerously. Tenten looked at him, knowing that he would only get so angry before he snapped.

However, all this was swept aside by her relief at seeing him. He had come for her; he has cared enough for her to get through the whole hidden leaf village to save her from certain death. She felt the despair and hopelessness of her prior situation melt away, some inkling of strength returning to her bones as she sat up straight, before getting unsteadily to her feet, her coughing fit having abated thankfully.

Her blonde shinobi turned away from Neji to look at her, the arrogant smirk that once she had detested so much returning to his lips.

"It seems you've gotten yourself into quite a fix, wouldn't you say, hmm?

She managed to give him a raised eyebrow in return, ignoring the aches all over her body.

"And yet I'm still standing." She replied.

"For now…"

Deidara leaned forwards, tipping her chin back with his thumb and forefinger as he pressed his lips to hers, his hands dropping to coil around her back and waist, keeping her standing as much as anything as he held her close to him. Tenten's heart gave a lurch, and for a second she was about to pull away in shock, but something stopped her. No…she knew what stopped her. She felt the same as he, wanting to express her newfound feelings for him as much as her innate relief and gratitude that she had found him and he her again.

She leaned into his strong arms moving her lips with his, her arms wrapping around his back and shoulders as the kiss deepened, her heart beating faster. She could feel his heart beating through his chest, and held him tightly as they sharing the fleeting moment of perfection.

Neji coughed uncomfortably and looked away, crossing his arms as he glared at an unoffending section of the forest floor, his usually so pale cheeks slightly pink for once.

As their lips parted, Tenten felt a warmth like that of which nothing she had ever felt before wash through her, her face warm and no doubt a blush upon her cheeks. The harsh, cold blue of Deidara's eyes looked as though it has softened a little, a broad grin on his face as he regarded Tenten with genuine desire and affection.

He licked his lips briefly before he turned to the hip bags he always carried, in which he stored his precious detonating clay. Tenten looked on curiously as he brought out a phial of small round objects, and tipped a couple out onto his palm.

"Take these – they will afford you some short term chakra and energy for a while. It should be enough to see us safely out of the Hidden Leaf Village." He explained, still with a slight look of euphoria on his face.

"Chakra pills…why don't you take one?"

"Because I have enough chakra to get by, it's my supply of clay that controls my limits."

"How much is left?"

"Not much, but any significant artist should be able to create a masterpiece, even with restrictions hmm?"

Tenten had to smile at his cocky arrogance, and took the pill gratefully. She swallowed it quickly, feeling herself revitalise throughout her body, as if jolts of electricity had pulsated down her nerves to fill every inch of her. She looked up with a smile, pulling the frayed ribbon out of her tangled hair to rebind it tightly.

"Then shall we?"

"Indeed we shall, hmm?"

Tenten turned to Neji, her smile becoming smaller.

"Thank you Neji. I'm sorry that I hurt you earlier, but we cannot be together. I am no longer tied to this village, and though I will always remember your comradeship, we must never meet again after this…if anyone from the Leaf knew that you were in correspondence with a criminal such as I, you would be punished, maybe even executed."

"Nevertheless, I will travel with you to the Village boundary. Don't worry, I won't be spotted, and if I am I'll say I'm tailing you. I won't regret feeling the way I did for you, but I am in agreement. This is our last mission, Tenten."

He stepped forward and hugged her awkwardly. Surprised at this show of affection she would usually have expected from Lee, she smiled sadly, embracing him back as a friend would.

Deidara looked as if he was trying not to appear irritated, but said nothing.

Tenten sighed, letting Neji go as she turned and looked out into the depths of the woods. All this time, the search and patrol parties had been searching the further reaches of the forest, but she could hear their movements once more; the shouting of men and the baying of hounds.

"I don't have enough clay left to produce a means of transport; we'll have to go on foot." Deidara pointed out, looking over his shoulder at the noises of people approaching their position.

Tenten and Neji both nodded, exchanging looks before the three set off in unison. Admittedly, Tenten could not travel as fast as she would have liked, and despite the energising effect the pill had had on her, she was still weak from her injuries and the after effects of the drug that had been administered to her whilst at the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility. This was not going to be easy.

* * *

The sound of their feet impacting the forest ground was far too loud for Deidara's liking, even though it was softened somewhat by the carpet of dead leaves underfoot. He looked aside to Tenten, not showing his concern for her too explicitly on his face.

She was thin and gaunt looking, and he hated to think what she must have been put through at the Leaf Village Prisons. The thought of her entrapped and suffering there made his blood boil, a rage different to any he had felt before. But, he had helped her escape death, and that was surely a cause for celebration. Now all they needed to do was navigate through the maze of a village once more and escape without being captured and certainly killed by the shinobi of Konoha.

"I'm going to disguise our chakra signatures as much as possible," Neji said suddenly, "I can feel sensory type shinobi searching for us as we get closer to the main village. I'm afraid I can't do much more than that for now."

Deidara nodded, focussing his energy on moving faster, the knowledge that sensory shinobi were closer now unsettling him.

"Don't forget about types like Shino and Kiba – you can't disguise chakra from hounds and insects." Tenten said.

Deidara didn't know who these people were, but assumed that there must be ninja with other means of detecting their targets.

"Once we reach the main village, leave it up to me to navigate to the outer walls – I grew up in the centre of the village unlike Neji who was brought up almost exclusively in the Hyuuga house-hold. I spent a lot of time exploring the lesser known streets. I think I can find routes which will take us further out of the way of our pursuers."

Deidara frowned; Tenten sounded confident, but it wasn't as easy as that...his somewhat messy entrance earlier meant there were probably legions of shinobi patrolling every street, lesser known or otherwise.

It took the best part of an hour before they reached the tall towers and buildings og the main Village, having left the confines of the forest behind. Neji had placed a basic illusion jutsu on each of them, making it impossible for an ordinary citizen to know who they were – though it wouldn't fool the more experienced shinobi.

They had been trying to look inconspicuous for a while now, as they avoided the crowds of people who were now filling the mid-morning streets. The alleys and side streets provided better cover than the main promenade, not to mention the fact that even with their disguises, jostling a passer-by by mistake could lead to the illusion slipping, and an alarm would definitely be sounded.

It was as they stood at the mouth of a particularly busy street that they spotted them. A group of back-ops, masked and armed, standing at the top of the water tower, surveying the street bellow. These ninja would have no problem spotting them through their meagre disguise.

Tenten suddenly, grabbed Deidara's arm, dragging him into the shadow of a broad roofed building, Neji following at exactly the same time. A pair of shinobi paced down the street through which they had just traversed. It looked as if they had seen them, as the pair were speaking into small transmitters, tensed and looking around quickly to find their quarry again.

"Follow me" hissed Tenten.

Deidara watched and followed as she led them down a disused alleyway, refuse piled on either side of the precinct. It was quiet here, and there were no windows in any of the houses that looked out into this grubby street.

Tenten stopped at large man-hole cover, and squatted down to remove the lid. Deidara helped her lift it away, not quite believing what he thought they were about to do.

"Don't look at me that way – this is the only way we're going to get out of here alive. The security around the village is just too tight. Besides, the underground water-ways and sewer systems of Konoha are the best way to get out of here. They're to be used as emergency escape routes in times of crisis for the village, right Neji?"

"Indeed…" Neji replied, not looking overly enthusiastic.

"More importantly, you're a long range, open air type Deidara. This is the last place they'd look for you."

Deidara was about to protest violently, but stopped himself. There was no other alternative other than death at the hands of some Leaf Shinobi, and he was damned of that was going to happen.

Tenten dropped down the hole first, landing with a thud at the ground underneath. Deidara went in after her, scowling irritated at the algae on the walls as he did so. It wasn't as bad as it could be, he supposed. There was a concrete path a few feet wide to the side of the flowing water, and it was pretty much dry.

However, he couldn't pause to admire the surroundings long before Tenten's footsteps brought him back to reality, and he saw her moving off into the gloom of the sewer. She certainly had an aptitude in moving around in small spaces. She was tall girl after all, but seemed to manoeuvre easily around the sharp corners, knowing exactly where to go. He guessed any Konoha shinobi must be expected to know the layout of their underground escape mechanism, in case the worst happened to the village.

Deidara was breathing heavily how, the swift pace combined with the uncomfortably stooping position he had to take to move through the tunnels and his dwindling chakra was tiring him. His back ached, his eyes felt sore from lack of rest, and his hair was plastered uncomfortably to his sweating face.

With each twist of the tunnel, he though he saw light at the end, but each time found he was mistaken. It was frustrating, and the dim light that only permeated the tunnel from grills or loosely fitted covers in the ceiling made it difficult to see, and the scope on his eye was no help. He reached into his hip bags with both hands, the mouths on his palms biting off chunks of the minimal amount of clay he still possessed; it payed to be prepared.

"The tunnel comes out outside the main walls, draining away down the hills in the forest."

This information from Neji seemed to settle Deidara's agitations a little, as it was good to know they wouldn't have to try and get through any guards posted at the walls.

All of a sudden, Deidara creased his brows…something felt strange.

"Tenten, Neji, stop!" he barked, skidding to a halt himself.

The two looked at him, confusion etched into their faces streaked with grime.

He couldn't put his finger on it…he felt a bizarre sensation, as if some kind of energy was thrumming through him, vibrating the very walls around them. It was then that he heard it – a rumbling hum of energy building up, the pitch and amplitude increasing to a point when –

"GET DOWN!" Deidara yelled.

An explosion ripped open the ceiling of the tunnel, the tumultuous noise amplified by the pipe, deafening and stunning them. Rubble of stone and concrete rained down around them in the chaos, bouncing off of Deidara's arms as he held them over his head, having dived to the floor. He looked up – Tenten had also taken cover, and was now looking around with an expression of panic. Good, she was safe.

Deidara pushed himself up to his hands and knees to see how Neji had faired in the blast, when all of a sudden, pain exploded through his back, rippling up his spine and making him roar out loud.

He saw the blade force its way out through his front, the blood spattering the concrete, and the shadow of Neji falling over him.

With a gasp of pain as the weapon was withdrawn, he crumpled forwards.


End file.
